30 Kisses: Jaden and Alexis
by SoulSeeker
Summary: No one ever thought an Obelisk could ever like a Slifer...One shots about Jaden and Alexis for the 30kisses LJ community. —Passing on the Reward: Some things were best kept secret.—
1. Making an Observation

**Title: **Making an Observation  
**Author:** Amm (SoulSeeker)  
**Pairing:** Yuki Juudai/Tenjoin Asuka (Jaden/Alexis)  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh! GX  
**Theme:** #5—"ano sa…" ("hey, you know...")  
**Rating:** For Everyone (PG)  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own the characters of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. I am just playing 'Barbie' with them, cause god knows they're a lot more fun than real Barbies.  
**Summary:** Alexis could be quite observant at times…

_A silly one to start off, but it's cute too n.n_

* * *

Cold.

That was the only thing Jaden Yuki managed to think, as he walked out of the Slifer Red Dorm at Duel Academy – his beloved home. He breathed heavily, seeing each breath he took as he walked onward, staring down at his footprints in the snow that he made with each step. Even the footprints he had made on the way into the dorm not a half an hour before were still perfectly visible; though they wouldn't be for long, with the relentless snow continuing to fall. There was no question about it – winter had definitely come.

The taste of teriyaki chicken was still fresh in his mouth from lunch, which he had the privilege of eating with Alexis, and of course, his best friends Syrus and Chumley. They had been near a tree outside the Obelisk Blue Dorm, and it had been Alexis that had cordially invited Jaden and his friends to eat with her. Her friends certainly didn't seem happy about their visitors, but being able to tease the little Slifers amused them enough to stay around – and plus, they all loved the snow.

It was no later than 1:40pm in the afternoon, yet the dark clouds in the sky made it seem like it was nearly 4. Jaden was alone; after all, there was no sense in making his friends suffer in the cold, too – especially since they had nothing to do with the reason he was even out there. He told them to stay behind, assuring them that he wouldn't be long.

Yet he realized that the path to the Obelisk Dorm area seemed much longer than he anticipated, with a foot's worth of snow on the ground and fierce chilling wind biting at his face. After about ten minutes which he could've sworn were hours, he finally got to the beautiful sakura tree they had sat under earlier that afternoon – and that was where he would find what he was looking for; or so he hoped.

He was suddenly beginning to wish he had brought his nice Slifer winter coat the Academy had provided for him and the rest of the students for the season. Granted, he was wearing a nice black turtle neck sweater, but against the heavy snow, it wasn't enough. Anticipating a short period of time outside, he had figured he could just quickly run out and find what he had misplaced in no time; a most prized possession of his, there with him before lunch, there during lunch – and gone afterwards.

His Winged Kuriboh Card.

"Come on, Jaden; think…" he told himself. "You were sitting here…Alexis was over there…Sy was sitting over there…where could you have left it?"

The young boy saw no sign of the card, and began to lightly dig around in the blanket of snow around where he had been sitting at lunch with Alexis and the others. It just _had_ to be there – somewhere amongst all the white.

He dug for about half an hour all around that area until finally could feel the ground, and his dirty and now numb hands were shaking, and his breaths got shorter and shorter. His hands wouldn't let him dig any longer, leaving him sitting there, leaning against the tree and thinking to himself. He silently wondered if someone had stolen it – Chaz perhaps? Maybe one of Alexis's friends?

He couldn't help but laugh lightly at the thought. "Stupid…no one would want to steal that card of yours…" he muttered to himself. "This was your own fault…"

He sighed, figuring he should probably get back to the dorm. He was freezing cold, the card wasn't there – there wasn't any reason to be out there anymore. He convinced himself that he probably dropped it on the way back to the dorm from lunch, and probably missed it on the way back to the tree. It gave him a motive to get up and head back; but his body simply didn't feel like moving. He sat there, watching the snowflakes fall one by one and disappear into the blanket of snow on the ground.

_Come on, Jay, get up and move_, he thought to himself. _You know, the whole standing and walking thing?_

"You know I have to wonder, Jaden – do you treat all your cards this way?"

Jaden's eyes widened and he gasped in surprise as his heart skipped a beat. He had magically sprung to his feet, and turned to his right, where the voice had been coming from.

"Alexis!" he exclaimed.

Wearing her nice warm Obelisk Blue winter coat, she simply smirked, having a certain card in between her two of her fingers, which she made sure Jaden could see. "I thought I might find you here," she said. "Looking for this?"

She brought the card closer to him, and upon closer inspection, he could definitely see that it was his very own Winged Kuriboh. It was soaking wet, having been buried in the snow, but luckily, Alexis had spotted it before the snow covered it completely – and right after Jaden left.

His eyes grew wide, and a sudden grin appeared on his face. "YOU FOUND IT!" he exclaimed, throwing his arms around her and squeezing, giving her a quick hug. He took the card from her hands, and looked at it, reassuring himself that it was indeed in his possession again. "Oh my god, I thought I'd never see it again – thank you _so_ much, Alexis, you're a life saver!" His breathing became heavy once more, his body reminding him that he had been out in the cold for way, way too long. "…literally…" he added, falling back against the tree with a smile on his face. He kissed his precious Winged Kuriboh card and sighed in relief, and he put the card in his pocket, where it would stay until he was back in his warm dorm room.

Alexis giggled at Jaden's behavior, and knelt down next to him, beginning to unzip her coat. She took it off, revealing a black and navy blue sweater underneath, and she put it around Jaden. "Stupid. What were you thinking, coming out with only a sweater in weather like this?" she asked.

"But Alexis, it's your co— "

"Oh, don't worry about me," she interjected. "Just put it on. You need it a lot more than I do right now."

Jaden sighed, obeying her; he had to admit, it _did_ feel good – but he still felt awkward about putting on an Obelisk Blue coat that didn't belong to him. He could see Crowler's reaction right then. _How dare he – why that insolent little brat! Soiling a perfectly good Obelisk Blue coat! Never mind the fact that it could've very well saved his life just now! _Yes, Jaden Yuki never _was_ on top on Crowler's list of favorite students. "Happy?" he asked, getting up and brushing the snow off of him. He felt like a total fool.

She laughed; indeed, Jaden dressed in blue around the Academy was definitely a sight she had to get used to. "Come on, I'll walk you back," she said, lightly pushing him in the right direction.

They both walked forward, slowly heading towards the Slifer Red Dorms. "You don't have to…" Jaden said.

"What, do you not want me to?" Alexis replied, folding her arms as she gave him a smirk.

"No! No…" Jaden quickly replied. "It's not that...It's just that…I mean…I have your coat and everything…I just don't want you to get sick because of me."

Alexis giggled. "Hey, you know…I just noticed something," she said. Jaden turned around, waiting for her to continue, and at the same time, Alexis had waited for him to ask what it was. They had gone into silence, each expecting the other to speak.

Jaden finally sighed, wrapping his arms around himself, feeling cold. He chuckled lightly. "Hey, you know Alexis, I'm not gonna know what it is you noticed until you tell me," he said, mimicking her tone of voice.

"And uh, you know Jaden, I'm not gonna tell you what it is if you get that attitude with me," she replied, mimicking him back with a smirk.

He put his hands on his hips now, ignoring the cold. "And uh, you know, Alexis, I have my ways of getting information out of people," Jaden replied, continuing to use that same tone of voice.

"And uh, you know, Jaden, they're not gonna work on me," she said, folding her arms, continuing their little 'game.'

He stopped and turned around. "You wanna bet?" he said confidently, finally ending it.

"Ohh, whatcha gonna do, tough guy?" she asked mockingly. "Duel me?"

Jaden just laughed. "Trust me – you don't want to know," he said. He suddenly ran up to her, forgetting that he was still tired as all hell, and began to relentlessly tickle her – and it worked.

"How's that for dueling, huh? Huh!" Jaden said as he tickled her. Alexis had burst out laughing, falling to the ground now, having forgotten about her weakness of being extremely ticklish; and also about the cold.

"Okay—okay—stop! Hahaha, Stop! – I'll – I'll tell you! Hahaha!" she said, in between her laughter, finally giving up after few minutes of the torture.

He finally stopped, and he was on top of her now, having trapped her on the ground. Jaden waited for her to go on.

"Well, get off me first!" she demanded.

Jaden rolled his eyes and sighed, getting off the poor Obelisk girl, standing up and brushing the snow off of himself. He looked over to her, and she was smiling, yet breathing heavily now. The tickling had tired her out a bit. "Well? What did you notice?" he asked, staring at her.

She giggled. "You really want to know that badly, huh?" she asked.

"YES! Come on, we already made this big of a deal out of it, just tell me already!" Jaden exclaimed.

Alexis folded her arms and looked at him with mocking disbelief. "Hey, you know, if you're gonna yell at me—"

"Just SAY it Alexis, come on, no more stalling!"

She couldn't help but laugh, so hard that she could barely form the words to actually tell Jaden what she noticed.

"Whaaattt IS it!" he demanded again. "Stop laughing and just SAY it, come onnn..."

Her laughter died down to a small giggle, and finally it stopped. She loved to tease him. She stared at him standing there, looking frustrated and almost desperate, wearing her own Obelisk Blue coat she had taken off her own back to lend him. She almost considered teasing him more by claiming that she had 'forgotten,' but she decided that he had had enough...and finally, the simple words escaped her mouth.

"You look really good in blue…"


	2. A Spoon Full of Sugar

**Title: **A Spoon Full of Sugar  
**Author:** Amm (SoulSeeker)  
**Pairing:** Yuki Juudai/Tenjoin Asuka (Jaden/Alexis)  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh! GX  
**Theme:** #18—"say ahh…"  
**Rating:** For Everyone (PG)  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own the characters of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. I am just playing 'Barbie' with them, 'cause god knows they're a lot more fun than real Barbies.  
**Summary:** Jaden and medicine just don't mix.

_xD Another rather silly one. 2 of 30…_

* * *

Final exams were always something to worry about at Duel Academy, especially if you were a Slifer – and especially if Dr. Crowler hated you as much as he did Jaden Yuki.

But of course, Jaden didn't really care. The color on his jacket meant nothing to him, nor the color of anyone else's jacket. All that was important was that he was at the school – the wonderful school where you got to duel, make friends, have fun, and learn something all at the same time. He was never one to put much stock into what everyone else thought of him anyway; he had his own friends just like anyone else.

The pairings for the duel exams had been announced for at least two weeks now, and Jaden was ecstatic. Dr. Crowler had completely randomized the opponents – meaning he could've been dueling _any_one at the school. It could've been anyone, from a Slifer like Chumley or his best friend Syrus, to an expert duelist like Zane.

Even facing those odds, Jaden still got paired up with the person he wanted to duel most: Alexis Rhodes.

He had defeated her before, and ever since then, he couldn't wait for a rematch. After all, she was certainly no push over – he barely had any life points left at the end of their duel, and he secretly wondered if she could still put up that much of a fight against him.

He stayed up late, preparing his deck and checking all his cards and strategies. He was annoyed as ever at his throat, which had been bothering him – it had been for a couple days now, but he made it a point to crudely ignore it. The headache he got that night, however, made it even worse, and he could no longer hide it from his roommates.

"Jaden, don't you think you should go to bed?" Syrus asked innocently, hearing him cough for what had to be the billionth time that night.

"I'm fine, Sy, don't worry so much," he said. "I'm almost done. I just want to make sure my deck is in top shape for my test duel. Alexis isn't going to be easy to beat, after all."

Syrus growled a little unhappily, as he rolled over on his bed. "Maybe, but you know, you should've been doing this for the past two weeks back since when the pairings were announced," he said. "Not the night before the duel!"

Jaden coughed a few more times, and finally put his cards away after doing one last flip through of his deck. "All right, all right, you win," he said. "I'm going to bed. Ugh…"

He held his head and crawled into his bed. Chumley had been fast asleep, and Sy give him a frown after the lights were finally off. "Are you really going to be able to duel in your condition, Jay?" he asked.

"What condition?" he replied.

"Jaden, you _know_ you're sick," Syrus said. "Shouldn't you just reschedule the duel for when you can actually think straight?"

The brown-haired boy laughed. "I'm thinking fine, Syrus!" he replied. "I think maybe you're the one who's thinking too _much_. Now go to bed. If you haven't forgotten, you have a duel tomorrow too, you know."

Syrus sighed, shaking his head, deciding that it was futile to dissuade his friend from any kind of duel. "Good night then…" he said.

The next morning, the first thing Jaden could hear was the sound the door of his dorm being opened.

"JADEN!" Syrus exclaimed. "What are you still doing in bed! The exams are going to start in five minutes, and you're not even dressed! Come on, Jay you _always_ do this; get up!"

All he could hear was yelling – he thought he recognized Syrus's voice, and suddenly he felt himself being shaken. He sat up in bed, noticing that his headache had worsened from the night before; and his throat wasn't doing much better either.

His eyes then widened upon seeing his watch – 9:55am. His duel was scheduled to start in five minutes, and Sy was right – he was still in pajamas.

"Aw, man, my duel! I'm gonna be late! Ugh…"

The second Jaden stood up, he felt an overwhelming amount of dizziness and almost instantly fell down. Syrus shook his head and went to help him pick himself back up off of the ground. "I told you that you wouldn't be able to duel like this," he said. "You can't even stand up right. Just go to bed, okay? I'll tell Crowler to reschedule your duel with Alexis."

"But…argh, I've been looking forward to this," he said grumpily, ignoring the fact that his throat hurt whenever he talked.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, but you'll still get your duel," Syrus replied. "And as soon as mine's over, I'll come back and check on you, okay? Just promise me you won't go anywhere…"

Jaden groaned. "Who are you, my mother?" he said, a little annoyed. He just sighed, giving up. "Just go, okay? You're making yourself late."

He buried his head under his pillow, feeling even more sick knowing that he wouldn't be able to duel.

"Ahh, you're right!" Syrus replied. "Bye Jaden, feel better! Come on Chumley, let's hurry!"

Right as Syrus ran out of the room, Chumley had shown up, wondering why his friends weren't ready yet, but before he had a chance to say anything, Syrus had tugged him by the sleeve and they both started running in the direction of the exam arenas.

Jaden just sighed, feeling so weak that he wouldn't have been surprised if he didn't have the strength to lift up a single card, let alone duel. He felt so tired that he couldn't even fall asleep, and finally, he heard the dorm door open once again. He looked over to see Alexis, who walked in without saying a word, with what looked like medicine in her hands.

"I don't like medicine," he told her bluntly as he pulled his blanket over him to hide himself.

Alexis folded her arms. "Well, you should've thought of that before you got yourself sick," she said. She sighed, pulling his blanket off of him and putting her lips to his forehead to see if he had a fever, since she didn't have a thermometer to use. "You're burning up."

She looked at the instructions on the bottle of medicine she brought with her to get an idea of how much of it to give to Jaden. After all, if she was going to duel him, he would have to get better first – dueling someone when they were dead sick seemed sleazy, and something she would've expected out of Chaz; certainly not herself.

She poured a teaspoon for him, figuring that it would suffice, and lightly poked him. "Come on, it's fever reducer," she said. "Say ahh…"

Jaden turned away, backing up closer to the wall and farther away from Alexis, and she sighed. "Jaden come on, I'm going to spill it, would you_ please_ just open your damn mouth?"

"I don't care what it is," he said. "If my body temperature's too high, I'll stand out in the cold and _that_'ll bring it down, and it'll be a lot better than that nasty medicine!"

She rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah, _that_ sure makes a lot of sense, especially considering that being outside is probably what got you sick in the first place," Alexis said sarcastically. "Come on. Say ah, or I'll make you."

"How?" he asked.

"Honestly Jaden, you can be so stubborn," she said with a sigh. "Besides, you don't even know if it's nasty yet."

"It's _medicine_! Need I say more?" he retorted.

"Ugh, just drink it, will you?" Alexis said annoyed, smacking him on the head.

"OW— "

And with that Alexis had just enough time to stick the spoon full of medicine into his mouth, and he swallowed, making a very disgusted face.

"Yuck!"

Alexis then set the medicine and spoon aside, and pulled out yet another spoon, along with a small packet of – something. She tore it open and began to pour its contents into the new spoon, revealing a white powder.

"_Now_ what are you up to? What's that?" Jaden asked.

She just gave him a smile. "A spoon full of sugar…"

He just raised an eyebrow, giving her a look like she was the weirdest person in the whole entire planet. "And what'll that do for me?" he asked.

Alexis smirked and held up the spoon after all the sugar was on it, careful not to spill it.

"Why, make the medicine go down, of course…"


	3. Picture Perfection

**Title: **Picture Perfection  
**Author:** Amm (SoulSeeker)  
**Pairing:** Yuki Juudai/Tenjoin Asuka (Jaden/Alexis)  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh! GX  
**Theme:** #8—our own world  
**Rating:** For Everyone (PG)  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own the characters of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. I am just playing 'Barbie' with them, cause god knows they're a lot more fun than real Barbies.  
**Summary:** Was skipping class always a bad thing?

_Ever get an urge to go on an adventure—or to just not be in class? 3/30. Much love for the reviews! Keep them up, please :D_

* * *

_Thump, thump, thump…_

Distinct footsteps echoed in the empty hallways of Duel Academy, as a very late Jaden had seemingly given up on getting to class on time for the morning. It was Crowler's turn to lecture now; he couldn't blame his body for not wanting to wake him up for _that_, and of course now that he was late, he would be in twice as much trouble he usually was.

He didn't find Sy or Chumley when he woke up—he assumed they had gone on without him, and though he wasn't particularly looking forward to his class with Crowler, something inside him wished they would've woken him up. Of course with his luck, they probably tried and failed.

Almost there—just a few more steps.

He felt like he had said that to himself a million times before he finally found himself at the doorway of the classroom. He hesitated, peeking in first, seeing Alexis and Zane, and what he thought was a glimpse of Bastian; the Slifers were seated too far down for him to see, making it impossible to spot Sy or Chumley, or any other Slifer friends of his.

His hand was on the handle, ready to open the door and apologize a hundred times for his lateness, but he found himself unable to move on farther and enter the room. He shook his head, something in his mind convincing him that he now suddenly had to go to the bathroom, and he took his hand off the handle, backing away from it.

Just as he was walking out of the bathroom, after having stalled long enough, he saw Alexis walk out of the girl's room at the same time. She just gave a smirk and walked closer to him.

"I _thought_ I saw someone outside the door," she said. "It was you, wasn't it?"

Jaden shrugged innocently, giving his best smile. "Maybe…" he said with a grin.

Alexis chuckled. "What are you doing, anyway? Crowler's been looking for you, and let me tell you, it's _not_ 'cause he's worried about you," she said warningly.

A sigh escaped the boy's lips as he shrugged nonchalantly. "Yeah, I know, I know…" he said. "But it doesn't matter. Even if I wasn't late, he would've found some other excuse to yell at me anyway. Old goat really just doesn't like me...and I can't say I really care."

She folded her arms and smiled approvingly. "I like your attitude Jaden," she replied.

He smiled in return. "Yeah, but he doesn't hate _you_, at least not yet," he said. "Shouldn't you get back there?"

She shrugged. "In all honesty, I'm not really in the mood to deal with him either," she replied with a sigh.

"Aw, come on, Lex, I gotta copy notes off of _some_one later!" he said pleadingly.

She couldn't help but laugh. "I'm sure Sy is taking great notes for you," she replied. "Besides, he got off on a tangent ranting about you, anyways… at least when I was there."

Suddenly, they heard more footsteps coming down the hallway. They both turned to each other, eyes widened—it was campus security. It _had_ to be.

"Quick—go into the boy's bathroom, I'll cover for you!" Alexis whispered frantically. She shoved Jaden towards the bathroom, and he quickly got the message, running in on his own free will just in the nick of time.

"Alexis Rhodes?" a voice questioned heftily.

She turned around. "Er, yes sir—erm, ma'am," she replied hastily. She stood up straight with her arms straight down to her sides, staring right into the woman's eyes. Her body was built almost like a man, blending in with the men she had behind her.

"We're looking for a Jaden Yuki on the premises," she said. "He's missing from his dorm and isn't in class. _You_ ought to get back there."

She nodded and bowed. "Er, yes ma'am," she said. "I'll just be a moment longer, I, uh—left something in the girl's room…" She quickly went back into the bathroom and eavesdropped, waiting for them to go away.

"You've already checked that bathroom, right?"

"Yes, ma'am, just ten minutes ago."

"All right, move out."

A chorus of footsteps followed, getting fainter by the second, and Alexis finally came out after she was sure they were gone, looking left and right as if she was crossing a street.

"Okay, Jaden, they're gone," she said softly.

A head of brown popped out from out of the boy's bathroom, and he grinned, walking confidently towards Alexis. "Wow that was close," he remarked. "I owe you one, Lex."

"Don't mention it," she replied.

There was a pause as they both stood in silence and stared at one another.

"So…shouldn't you get back to class then?" Jaden asked suddenly.

"I told you, I'm not in the mood to deal with him…" she said. "Besides, I'm not letting you skip by yourself. Who knows what kind of trouble you'd get yourself into?"

"Aw, come on, I'd be perfectly fine on my own," he assured her. "Don't treat me like such a baby."

Alexis sighed. "I just _mean_, Jaden, that I _know_ this place better than you do—secret exits and entrances, deserted hallways—"

"Say no more—lead the way, Miss Obelisk!" Jaden said, saluting to her with a smile.

She just shook her head, stifling a chuckle. "Come on…" she said. "Maybe we can go explore the island or something—get out of this place, you know?"

Jaden nodded. "Yeah, there _is_ that whole other side of the island beyond that forest, isn't there?" he reminded himself. "We've never been allowed…"

"Until now," Alexis smirked. She led him out of the building through a secret entrance she saw the security guards frequently use, and immediately they both got as far from view of the windows as they possibly could.

After about ten minutes of trudging through forest area, the two finally came out of it, revealing a place that almost seemed glowing in perfection.

Soft golden sand; clear, shining blue water; palm trees so green it made the grass look brown—it was obviously a place unhindered by man, almost like it had never been discovered before. They both stared in awe, seemingly hypnotized, and Jaden was almost tempted to feel the white sand to make sure it was real—feel it, touch it, experience it; kiss it.

Alexis just smiled, sitting down right where they were, not taking her eyes off the picturesque scene for a moment. "Let's not ruin it, Jaden…" she said pleadingly.

The brown-haired boy sat down next to her, following suit, and nodded. "Yeah…it's like our own little world," he said. "Totally sweet—let's not tell anyone else about it either… It'll be like our own special place! We can come here whenever we want to get away from everyone…"

She nodded. "This whole _place_ seems like our own world right now…" she said smiling. She laid her head on his shoulder and shut her eyes, not really realizing exactly what she was doing.

Jaden's skin color began to match his red blazer, but he then smiled, beginning to stroke her hair as he continued to stare at the hypnotizing scenery.

And they both silently decided that they wouldn't be back on Earth for a long while.

(**A/N:** _xD How's that for fluff? Lol, hope I didn't overdo it there at the end. Please let me know what you think!_)


	4. Keeping in Touch

**Title: **Keeping in Touch  
**Author:** Amm (SoulSeeker)  
**Pairing:** Yuki Juudai/Tenjoin Asuka (Jaden/Alexis)  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh! GX  
**Theme:** #2—news; letter  
**Rating:** For Everyone (PG)  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own the characters of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. I am just playing 'Barbie' with them, cause god knows they're a lot more fun than real Barbies.  
**Summary:** You never know how much you'll miss someone until after they're gone…

_They say absence makes the heart grow fonder… 4/30._

* * *

Jaden never was the most popular student at Duel Academy.

He was always teased because of the color on his jacket, especially by the high-strung, pompous Obelisk Blues who seemed so convinced that they were just that much better than him. Very few people actually gave him any chance at all to prove how well he dueled—and there were only a handful of Obelisks who believed he even had any chance of surviving at the school for long.

One of them was Alexis Rhodes.

He couldn't explain it, but something about her had left a profound impact on him, even from the first moment he met her. She was an Obelisk—the top girl at the Academy—and Jaden knew that she would end up graduating the Academy before him. Perhaps he had conveniently forgotten, or perhaps he had chosen not to acknowledge the fact; but he knew it.

And before he could even admit it to himself, the time had come.

He was sitting in the audience, watching Crowler as he called out the names of the graduating students, just waiting to hear the name. He clapped, he cheered, he smiled—for all anyone could see, he was happy. And he _was_… after all, one of his best friends was finally graduating. Her hard work was paying off; besides, there was still time for him to be in denial about her leaving. At least until the next morning.

For the first time in all the days he spent at Duel Academy, Jaden had woken up on his own—early, even—and _he_ was the one to wake up the others. Syrus and Chumley were friends with her too, and he knew they'd want to see her before she left. They weren't going to be seeing her for a while; she would be going to live with her brother, who had left the Academy just a year before and lived relatively far away from them all as it was, and they were going on vacation even farther.

She promised to write, he promised to reply; she promised to visit, and he promised her kisses— the _chocolate_ kind, of course. It was just one of those things you did when you were about to part with your friend: you made promises. But how well would they be kept? That was what worried Jaden the most.

In a flash, the boat that was taking Alexis to the mainland was out of sight, and everyone who saw her off found themselves back in their dorm rooms, getting ready for the last day of classes before they would finally go home for the year to rest up for the next. And like any other day when Crowler lectured, class was _bo-ring_.

_Hey Lex!_

_Yeah, I know you probably meant to write to me first, but I beat you to it. Sorry, but I mean, I have to do something during Crowler's class, right? Man, he's even more boring without you here. Don't get me wrong, the old geezer really knows his stuff! I don't doubt that. I just can't really focus._

_Think I have ADHD or something? _

_I dunno. Anyway, I think he's looking over here, so I'd better stop before he catches me and tries to make me look like a fool in front of the whole class again._

_Remember, you promised to come back and visit next year when we're back at the Academy again! For now though, just write back._

_Your favorite Slifer-Slacker,_

_Jaden_

He laughed a bit at the last words he wrote and then quickly put the short letter in his pocket to keep it from being taken. It was all right; no one ever did anything on the last day anyway. No one would notice.

Jaden looked over to the clock right behind Crowler as he took off his jacket to use it as a pillow. Five minutes down; eighty-five to go.

Crowler had given them some busy-work, and that actually had helped the time to pass; best of all, he allowed them to work in groups. It was usually him, Sy, Chumley, Bastion, and Alexis; but of course, it was just the four of them then.

From the moment he returned home, anyone could tell he was anxious to mail his letter; and from the moment he mailed it, it was obvious he wanted a reply.

And about a week later, he got one.

_Jaden,_

_You know you're not a 'Slifer Slacker.' What, have you been talking to Chaz too much again?_

_Anyway, I haven't forgotten my promises, and you better not have forgotten yours either. Chocolate is a girl's best friend—forget diamonds!_

_I just got into my brother's house that he's been living in, and it's really great. Near the ocean, great view, great weather; I know you'd love it. Hey, who knows? Maybe you can come up sometime. Just don't get on Crowler's nerves too much or he won't let you graduate!_

_So how are Sy and Bastion and the others doing? _

_I've gotta go now but be sure to tell them I send my love, and I'll see you, hopefully soon, before you know it!_

_Love,_

_Lex_

Jaden smiled at the letter and almost immediately rushed to reply. There wasn't a week that went by where the two didn't exchange letters—they wrote about anything, from friends or current events, to what they had for breakfast, or dueling.

They had avoided the topic of her visit until the beginning of the next Duel Academy year was finally approaching. Syrus and Jaden had been preparing for their next year together—talking about books they would be getting, what they were looking forward to; just trivial matters. Chancellor Shepard even informed him that he would have a second chance at testing into Ra Yellow, much to Crowler's dismay, and that made him look forward to the new year even more. Best of all, Syrus was testing too, and now they had the opportunity to move uptogether.

He immediately wrote to Alexis in hopes that she'd be able to come visit to see him 'get his game on,' and he even got some help from her with certain things in his deck. Nothing drastic—just little aspects of it that he decided needed second opinions. It was still the Elemental Hero deck he knew and loved.

The day finally came, and though he was glad he was finally going to be able to make some progress at the Academy and move up the supposed duelist 'food chain,' he seemed to be looking forward to seeing his old friend even more. In fact, he almost forgot his deck—the only thing he remembered clearly were the bag of Hershey's Kisses he bought for her. But luckily he remembered last minute.

He arrived at the school to meet up with Syrus and Chumley exactly where they had seen Alexis off at the end of the previous year. He had his deck in a neat little tin box he had recently gotten, and was throwing it up and down when finally he caught sight of an airplane approaching.

All three of them looked up excitedly as it landed and waited patiently for Alexis to show herself.

She walked off the plane with a smile, having already seen the three, and she approached them casually, as if she had seen them only yesterday.

"Guess what _I _still fit into!" Alexis laughed. She took off her coat to reveal her old Obelisk Blue uniform and grinned. "I thought I'd wear it for old time's sake."

Jaden just laughed, giving her a quick hug, and then broke away quickly to look at her with a grin. She still looked the same.

"Sweet!" he said smiling.

"You look great, Alexis!" Sy chirped. Alexis giggled and gave him a hug; he was still as short as ever.

"Thanks, Sy!" she said. "And I hear you're testing for Ra Yellow too, huh?"

He smiled with a blush. "Well, you know, I probably won't pass, but…yeah, I'm gonna try my best!" he grinned.

Alexis gave him a thumbs up. "Great!" she said. "And you, tough guy? You ready for your test?" She turned to Jaden.

"Naturally," he replied, holding up his deck with his chin high in the air.

"So when's the duel gonna start then?" Alexis asked excitedly. "I can't wait to see how much you guys have improved!"

Jaden looked at his watch. "Hmm…in…negative five minutes," he laughed. Yes, he was late again; some things never changed.

"Oh no! Come on, Jaden, let's hurry!" Syrus exclaimed in a panic.

"Relax, buddy," he replied. "We're already late anyhow. It's only five minutes. I'm sure Chancellor Shepard won't care."

"But Crowler…" Syrus reminded him.

Alexis folded her arms. "Hey Jaden! Where's my chocolate you promised me?" she demanded, suddenly remembering his promise.

Jaden smirked. "Oh gee, Alexis, I think I forgot the bag of Hershey's kisses …would you settle for an actual kiss instead?" he joked with a grin.

She blushed, raising an eyebrow at him. "Uh—"

"Psyche!" Jaden exclaimed quickly with a laugh. He tossed the unopened bag of Hershey's kisses towards at her, and she caught it with no trouble. "You thought I forgot, didn't you?"

Alexis just stuck her tongue out, stifling a laugh herself. "Jerk," she said, smacking him on the head.

They laughed all the way into the dueling arena, right up until Crowler began to yell at the two for being late for their matches.

But some things were worth being late for.


	5. A Dance and Nothing More

**Title: **A Dance and Nothing More  
**Author:** Amm (SoulSeeker)  
**Pairing:** Yuki Juudai/Tenjoin Asuka (Jaden/Alexis)  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh! GX  
**Theme:** #26—if only I could make you mine  
**Rating:** For Everyone (PG)  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own the characters of Yu-Gi-Oh GX. I am just playing 'Barbie' with them, cause god knows they're a lot more fun than real Barbies.  
**Summary:** Sometimes, peer pressure can be a good thing.

_Happy Valentine's Day everybody! Hope you enjoy this one—longest one-shot I've ever written to date._

* * *

It was no mystery; anyone who had eyes, ears, and common sense could tell that Alexis felt something for Jaden Yuki. Some scorned her for it, claiming she could 'do better,' and others simply didn't care; but either way they knew it. All except for the one person at the academy who mattered.

Though he had tremendous dueling skills and a knack for all aspects of dueling in general, he couldn't seem to muster enough common sense that his best friend had feelings for him—loved him.

It wasn't quite one-sided, though–it could certainly be argued that Jaden had become infatuated with her as well, whether it was because of her dueling skills or the simple fact that she happened to be the most attractive girl in the school. The boy hadn't even figured out his own feelings, however, let alone anyone else's.

Heck, Jaden barely knew what love was. Sure, he knew some aspects; love for dueling, love for winning, love for a challenge–and he even had crushes on cards. But that was only scratching the surface of the idea at best.

Alexis had only recently been able to admit her feelings to herself, and though she was in no way ready to admit it to Jaden himself, she had always kept an eye out for opportunities. Fortunately for her, one would present itself the very next week.

Valentine's Day: the lovers' holiday, otherwise known as "Haha-You're-Single" day. Alexis generally didn't celebrate it, but she hoped that maybe she would have a reason to this year. She hadn't quite decided how she would tell him or what she would say, but she knew that _she_ wanted to be the one to tell him, and her words had to reach his ears before any rumors did.

Crowler, as out of character as it may have seemed, was even holding a dance in honor of the holiday. He claimed that he 'loved to see young love blossom'; but Alexis was convinced that someone was probably pulling his puppet strings. Not that she cared.

Such a thing was just the opportunity she needed, though it had given her much less time to prepare than she was hoping for.

She wasn't the only one who had preparations to make however. Student and teacher volunteers alike were all lending a hand in setting up decorations, coating the walls of the largest dueling arena at Duel Academy in white and red to fit the dance's theme. The gigantic holographic monster projector in the center of the room would become a dance floor, and the spaces by the walls used for refreshments.

An exquisite formal event, the first of its kind at the academy, and Alexis wasn't the only one who was looking forward to it. Even the singles wanted to go just to have fun and hang out with friends.

"A dance? For Valentine's day? What the heck is that?"

Syrus sighed, smacking his forehead at his stubborn friend's comment. "Oh come on, Jaden, how can you not know? Everyone's been talking about it! It's the ultimate lovers' holiday!"

The boy raised an eyebrow. "But I don't have a lover," he replied. "What's the point?"

"You're not the only one, Jay, but it doesn't matter!" he replied. "A lot of people are going to the dance just to have fun, and everyone's going to be there!"

Jaden sighed. "Well...I guess if everyone's going to be there, I may as well not be bored by myself..."

Syrus glomped him, a couple of tears escaping out of his happiness. "Thanks, Jay, you're the best!"

He laughed a little, ruffling his friend's hair before breaking away. "All right, all right," he said. "No waterworks, okay? I've got homework to do."

The short baby-blue-haired boy raised an eyebrow suspiciously through his glasses. "Since when did you do homework?"

Jaden sighed. "Since Crowler hasn't stopped nagging at me about it."

"Ahh..." Syrus nodded in understanding, beginning to walk in the direction of the Slifer Red dorms. "Well, I'm going back to the dorm now. See you later."

It had been a particularly nice, cool day and Jaden didn't feel like spending it indoors, so he had gone out to the schoolyard with Sy instead while Chumley took a nap. He nodded to his friend as he left, giving a small wave. "I'll be there soon," he said.

"Oh...and if you want to ask someone to the dance, you might want to consider Alexis," Sy said with a smirk. "I bet she'd love to go with you..."

Jaden blinked as he walked out of the room, tilting his head a bit. "What did he mean by that?" he asked silently to himself. He just shrugged, sighing as he turned his attention back to his worksheet, which wasn't any more complete than the last time he looked at it, much to his dismay.

He yawned, scribbling in some more answers in an attempt to make it look like he actually gave a damn, and he began to walk back to the dorm as well.

"Hey Bastion!" he said upon seeing his Ra-Yellow friend.

He waved and smiled. "Heading back to the dorm?" he asked.

Jaden nodded. "Yep! Just finished that homework Crowler assigned yesterday. Now I can just sit back, relax and just chill…"

He nodded in approval. "Nice job, Jaden, I'm impressed—you actually did the homework."

"Yeah well, you know, gotta make Crowler shut up somehow," he laughed. "Catch you later!"

"Wait, Jaden!" Bastion exclaimed. He grabbed his arm to get his attention.

Jaden turned around. "What is it buddy?"

"Have you asked Alexis to the dance yet?" he asked.

Jaden raised an eyebrow. "You know, you're not the first person to suggest that," he said. "But, no I haven't…"

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Bastion exclaimed excitedly. "Have you even thought of a present to get her?"

He shook his arm lose from Bastion's grip. "Present? For Valentine's Day? I didn't know we had to get each other presents…" he said, scratching his head.

Bastion just laughed, shaking his head. "Oh, Jaden, Jaden, Jaden…what would you do without me?" He unzipped his yellow jacket and pulled out a small box, holding it in Jaden's direction. "You don't have to get everyone presents—it's not Christmas after all. But it _is_ tradition to give the person you love a present. Why not give this to Alexis?"

He took the box, looking utterly confused. "Chocolate?" he asked.

Bastion nodded. "Indeed," he said. "It makes a great present. If you give it to her at the dance, it'll make it even more special…"

He chuckled. "Well, guess I'll have to ask her then, huh?" he asked.

"Yep," he said. "Good luck!"

Jaden just laughed. "Oh, come on, now, it's just a dance," he said nonchalantly. "Don't need luck for that, now!"

"If you say so," Bastion laughed. "See you later."

Jaden waved, walking farther away from him. "Thanks!"

He smiled to himself, the words on the box of chocolate catching his attention. '_If only I could make you mine._' He didn't really know what it meant, though he figured the actual present was what really mattered. He decided not to pay any attention to the words—or where he was going for that matter.

He suddenly collided with someone, and the impact made him drop his box of chocolate.

"Shoot! I'm sorry," he said apologetically. He bent down to pick up the box and then looked up, and his eyes widened. "Oh, hey, Alexis! Just the person I was looking for."

Alexis looked at him, looking a tad surprised. "Really?" she asked.

"Yeah!" Jaden replied. "I was just gonna ask you if maybe you'd be interested in going with me to that big dance Crowler's holding next week. You know, for that holiday…"

She narrowed her eyes. "_Valentine's_ Day?" she asked.

"Yeah, that's the one!"

Alexis just laughed, shaking her head. "Sure, Jaden, I'd love to go," she replied. Any nervousness she felt in answering was quelled by Jaden's silly nature.

"Sweet!" he said. "Talk to you later then."

Jaden continued on walking, and Alexis just smiled, going her own direction. He finally found his way back to the dorm, chocolate in hand, and found Sy flipping through his deck.

"Oh, hey, Jaden! Finished the homework?" he asked.

He nodded. "You bet!" he replied proudly. He put the box of chocolate on the desk which stood right next to the three-layer bunk bed they shared.

"Ooh! Is that for Alexis?" Syrus asked excitedly.

"Yep! Bastion gave it to me so I'd have something to give her at the dance," he said. "Good guy, that Bastion."

He chuckled. "Aww! Yeah, he's a great friend," Sy grinned. He glanced over to the chocolate, seeing the words printed on the box. "So are you going to ask Alexis to be your girlfriend, then?"

Jaden laughed. "Everyone's been pushing me to ask her to the dance—and now to be my girlfriend? I don't know, Sy," he said.

"Aw, come on, Jaden, you like her and you know it," he replied.

He just shrugged. "Well, sure I do. What's not to like?" he asked. "Great duelist, great friend, not to mention pretty cute."

"So ask!" Sy said encouragingly, nudging him.

"All right, all right! Maybe, okay?" Jaden replied, holding his hands up in surrender.

Syrus smiled in approval, deciding he was satisfied with that answer.

Throughout the next week all the way up to Valentine's Day, he had gotten hints left and right from his friends to ask Alexis to be his girlfriend; Bastion, Sy, and even Chumley had encouraged him, though he figured he had just been doing it simply because everyone else had been.

He felt compelled to succumb to the peer pressure, though he still had no idea what he was going to do come time for the dance. Unfortunately for him however, it had come faster than he thought, and with Crowler hounding him about homework and such, he really hadn't had time to think about it.

"Guess I'll just play it by ear…" he told himself, as he slowly walked to meet Alexis right outside the room where the dance was to be held. Bastion had saved him once again and at last minute lent him a tuxedo to wear for the gala event. He kept looking at the suit, unsure of whether or not he liked the way it was looking on him.

"Hey, Jaden, looking good!"

The boy looked up with a smile, and his eyes widened upon seeing his date. "Wow! I could definitely say the same thing to you," he remarked with a grin. "That looks _great_!"

Alexis was wearing a long navy-blue dress with a slit down its right side, revealing part of her leg, and also had long gloves to match. "Thanks! I figured I'd keep my Obelisk pride and wear the right color," she said with a giggle. "You ready to dance?"

Jaden nodded. "As ready as I'll ever be, I suppose," he replied smiling.

They both made their entrance together and Jaden immediately noticed death glares coming from half the male population, including Chaz—but he was always glaring at him for one reason or another, so he paid him no mind.

He took the opportunity to hand Alexis the box of chocolate he had gotten from Bastion. "Here you go—you know, for the whole Valentine thing…" he said.

Alexis smiled as she accepted the chocolate. "Aw, you're sweet, Jaden—thank you," she said. She looked at the words on the box and was a little surprised, wondering if he truly meant them; though she was more convinced that Jaden didn't even notice, or simply had no clue about their implications. That was all right though: the chocolate was already more than she expected.

The dance floor started out empty, as the couples and even the singles waited for the brave souls who would have enough guts to dance before everyone else. When the right song finally came on, a small group of people finally began to dance, and Jaden and Alexis followed suit.

He couldn't really understand it, but he was feeling a slight twinge of nervousness. He didn't know how to dance, though he was doing fine following what the others were doing; he just laughed a little, thinking about all the peer pressure put on him as he tried to shake off his uneasiness.

"Something funny?" Alexis asked.

"Well…it's just that, since I asked you to come to this dance with me, people have also been encouraging me to ask you to be my…you know… girlfriend," he told her. "Pretty crazy, huh?"

Alexis blushed slightly, but smirked. "Well, I don't know Jaden, you tell me," she replied. "Is it?"

"I…guess not…" he replied unsurely.

She giggled. "It's okay," she said. "You don't have to decide now."

They continued to dance, and after a while—after they started playing less-than-pleasant music— the two went to get refreshments.

"Say Alexis?" Jaden asked. He poured himself a glass of fruit punch and grabbed a cookie, which were of course, shaped like hearts.

"Yeah?"

"What exactly does a girlfriend do?" he asked, though feeling somewhat naïve.

She just laughed a little at his question and planted a small kiss on his head. "I guess you'll have to wait and find out, won't you?"

Jaden blushed, rubbing his head a little. "I guess so…"

He suddenly felt nervous again; he didn't know why, but he did know one thing.

He didn't want to wait anymore.


	6. Egyptian Rat Screw

**Title: **Egyptian Rat Screw  
**Author:** Amm (SoulSeeker)  
**Pairing:** Yuki Juudai/Tenjoin Asuka (Jaden/Alexis)  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh! GX  
**Theme:** #16—invincible; unrivaled  
**Rating:** For Everyone (PG)  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own the characters of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. I am just playing 'Barbie' with them, cause god knows they're a lot more fun than real Barbies.  
**Summary:** It wasn't Duel Monsters, but Jaden was good at it nonetheless. And so was a certain someone else…

_I adore this card game, even though I absolutely suck at it. My friends and I call it "ERS" for short. :D Hopefully it makes sense and stuff…And, new GX this week! Yay! Anyways, enjoy. As always, thanks for the reviews! _

* * *

Anyone at Duel Academy could concur without any doubt that meaningless busy-work was the most tedious and annoying thing that they could ever get. For the Obelisk Blues, it was almost degrading. After all, the teachers all knew that they could do what they wanted them to with no problem. They had proven their capabilities time and time again, so why did they have to constantly do it?

Granted, the teachers wanted their students' skills to constantly improve, or at the very least, not deteriorate. But still; there had to be a more interesting way to achieve that goal.

Until the teachers started doing the more 'hands-on' activities however, there would always be slackers—and they weren't all Slifers, either.

Ironically, Chazz liked to slack off, mainly because he could get away with it most of the time. Alexis and Zane didn't, but it was only because they could finish the work quickly, most of the time in less than five minutes. Bastian also didn't; hell, the crazy intellectual actually enjoyed most of the busy-work. But a lot of the class became quite chatty during the class time assigned for busy-work—especially the group work.

That day was no different.

Deck strategies and efficiency of cards…the teachers just had to face it. No one cared about any other deck than their own.

So when they were assigned a worksheet with different decks listed on it and were expected to determine which cards would be the best additions to them and _why_…needless to say, the attention span of the students didn't last long.

Jaden sighed as he glanced over the paper.

"These decks are _lame_!" he groaned. "None of these cards are going to save them. This is so stupid..."

He turned to Syrus, who had been vigorously going over the list of possible additions to the first deck they listed, fighting with himself over which one to pick.

"Sy, what are you doing?" he asked. "This is pointless! Come on, let's go up and find Alexis. It'll be easier to slack off up there without being noticed."

The little boy had scribbled down an answer on his paper and smiled, seeming satisfied, and turned to Jaden. "Sure, Jay! Let's go. Maybe I can get her to help me with some of this…" he said hopefully.

Jaden shrugged. "Maybe…" He folded his arms, looking rather discontent; _he_ could've helped him just as well as she could. He shook it off quickly however, and found his way to Alexis with Syrus following close behind.

"Hey, Lex! Whatcha up to?"

The two approached her and looked on in a very puzzled manner at what she was doing. It required so much concentration that she didn't even reply to the boys, and it also involved cards—though they were anything but Duel Monsters cards.

She was across from Chazz, with a pile of regular, numbered cards in between them, and each were vigorously contributing cards to the pile with cards from their hands, which were faced down so that neither could see them.

Occasionally, both of their hands would race for the pile, making a large _slap_ sound; nine times out of ten, Alexis's hand was under Chazz's, and she would scoop the pile away to add to her hand, leaving Chazz looking very sour.

"What in the heck are you guys doing…?" Jaden demanded, scratching his head profusely.

They continued their routine, getting faster and faster, until finally, Chazz had put down his last card.

_Slap!_

"Yes! I win _again_!"

Alexis grinned as she scooped up the rest of the cards in the pile, leaving Chazz with nothing. He glared at her and growled.

"Pure luck," he muttered. "Give me back my cards! I should've never taught you that game…"

Alexis stuck her tongue out. "You sore loser," she teased. She put a rubber band around the 52-card deck and handed it back to him, and finally she turned to Jaden.

"Sorry about that," she told him. "What's up? You two done with the work already?"

Jaden shook his head. "No," he replied honestly. "But…what was that all about?"

He pointed back and forth between the two of them and blinked, and Alexis just grinned. "Oh that?" she asked. "That was just Chazz losing another game of Egyptian Rat Screw to me."

Chazz flinched at her words and groaned. Syrus, who had been quiet up until now, put down his work that he had done so far and smiled. "It looked like fun!" he remarked.

"Yeah!" Jaden agreed. "How do you play? Come on, teach me! It looks a lot more interesting than this worksheet thing."

Jaden waved off his worksheet and let it fall onto Syrus's, and he pulled up a chair to sit next to Alexis. She smiled at him. "Sure!" she replied. Chazz just turned to them and smirked, putting his cards in the middle once again after unwrapping them from the rubber band.

"This should be interesting—Jaden playing a card game that's _not_ Duel Monsters," he chuckled. "I've gotta see this…Especially since no one in my group of friends has managed to even come close to beating her."

Alexis just rolled her eyes. "Don't listen to him, he's just angry that he can't beat me," she chuckled. She turned to Syrus. "You want to learn too, Sy?"

He chuckled nervously. "Well…maybe next time," he said shyly. "I'll watch first."

She shrugged. "All righty," she replied. She turned back to Jaden. "Well, ready to start then? It's really fun. Chazz taught it to me yesterday."

"Sure!" he replied. "New games are always fun."

Alexis smiled. "Okay. Well, to start off…" She split the deck into two piles very quickly and rather unevenly, though it didn't matter, since it was only for teaching. "We each get half the cards. You don't look at them, and everyone who is playing takes turn putting down a card. In this case, it's just the two of us."

She took a card from one pile and flipped it up, revealing a Five of Hearts. She took a card from the other pile and put it on top of the five, and went back and forth between the two until two Aces showed up. Jaden and Syrus watched on intensely.

"Now, when you have two of the same card, you both try to slap the pile, and whoever does it first gets the pile to add to your hand. And of course, your goal is to get all the cards."

The two nodded in understanding, and Syrus grinned. "So you really need good reflexes for this!" he remarked.

"Exactly!" Alexis replied. "Oh, and, you can also slap on the sandwiches. That's when you have one card in between two of the same card. For example, if I put down a two, then you put down a four, and I put down another two, that would be a sandwich and we could slap for it. Got it?" Alexis put all the cards into a neat pile again and looked back and forth between the two.

"Mm…seems easy enough," Jaden mused. "But…isn't there something about the face cards, too?"

Alexis tilted her head a bit, raising an eyebrow, and then she snapped her fingers. "Right! The face cards," she remembered. "Once someone puts down a Jack, the card the next person puts down has to be another face card, or else the person who put down the Jack gets the pile. If it's a queen, the next person has to put down _two_ cards to try to get a face card. For Kings it's three, and for Aces, it's four."

Jaden smiled. "So Jacks are pretty bad, unless you draw it," he said.

She nodded. "Right," she replied. She took the cards and properly distributed them amongst herself and Jaden. Shuffling the cards masterfully in her hands, she grinned.

"Ladies first," she told him. She flipped over a card and revealed a Three of Spades.

Quickly, Jaden flipped over a card and revealed a Seven of Hearts. They went back and forth—eight, ten, nine, six, seven, six—

_Slap!_

Jaden's hand hit the desk hard mere nanoseconds before Alexis's hand appeared vainly on top. He smiled in triumph as he took the cards. Alexis just sneered at him. "Beginner's luck," she muttered. "Let's keep going."

Nine, two, ten, King—in an instant, Jaden remembered to put down three cards. Two, five, five—

_Slap! _

Hands flew towards the pile, and Jaden still came out in victory. Alexis quirked an eyebrow, feeling a tad threatened now by the boy's fast reflexes. She was beginning to realize that she may not be as invincible at the game as she thought.

The game continued, eventually gaining spectators, and Jaden actually proved himself to be a formidable opponent—more so than Alexis had wanted. She was quite content when Jaden was down to his very last cards, but he quickly bounced back again, stealing most of them back, and before they knew it, Alexis was then down to her last cards.

King, Ace, Five, Five—

_Slap!_

Alexis's hand lingered on top of Jaden's in disbelief—she had just lost herself the game. "No…"

"Haha, I won!" Jaden jumped up for joy, as some of the Slifers who had inadvertently become the audience cheered.

"Just _what_ is going on up here?"

A familiar voice belonging to a certain doctor had crept up on them, and Alexis ignored it, looking at Jaden in disbelief. "How did you do that?" she stammered, as she struggled to gather all the cards together.

Jaden just smirked. "Easy," he chuckled. "I've been playing it with Bastian for the past week during lunch…"

"What! You knew how to play and you didn't…you didn't…!"

He nervously looked away to see the approaching Dr. Crowler, and began to quickly scramble off. "I'll play you again sometime! See ya!"

He blew Alexis a quick kiss after which he grabbed Syrus's arm—and their unfinished work—to head back to their seats. The crowd dispersed, left with only a very angry Alexis and a half-satisfied Chazz.

"Mr. Princeton, Ms. Rhodes—does there seem to be a problem up here?" the doctor asked his two most prized students. Alexis just sighed.

"No, Dr. Crowler," she replied bitterly, glaring at Jaden who was now back down near the front where the Slifers were seated. "Just a slight…_pest_ problem…"


	7. Beautiful Springtime

**Title: **Beautiful Springtime  
**Author:** Amm (SoulSeeker)  
**Pairing:** Yuki Juudai/Tenjoin Asuka (Jaden/Alexis)  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh! GX  
**Theme:** #11—gardenia  
**Rating:** For Everyone (PG)  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own the characters of Yu-Gi-Oh GX. I am just playing 'Barbie' with them, cause god knows they're a lot more fun than real Barbies.  
**Summary:** Come on, Lex…you can't seriously hate Spring?

_Haha! Yeah. I hate Spring. x.x A lot of myself came out in Alexis in this one._

* * *

Alexis growled; she hissed, she groaned. There were a lot of words to describe how the girl felt about the new season that had just started, but hate did it best.

All the girls cherished Spring; it was a time for celebration, beauty, and just all-around happiness—and really, she had no problem with it. She liked flowers as much as the next girl and she loved the lush green she could see outside.

But it was hard to see much of anything when most of the time, her hands were rubbing at her eyes, trying to quell the itchy, irritating sensation that she constantly suffered—not to mention sneezing…yes, allergies were most definitely a _bitch_.

Syrus, however, seemed unaffected; in fact, he loved the spring too. He hummed happily as he walked along side Jaden; they were on a walk to enjoy the last day of their Spring Break while Chumley slept it off, and they certainly felt sad that it was the last day they could lounge around enjoying the pretty flowers that grew there.

Roses, daisies, lilies, gardenias…

Jaden's personal favorite was the gardenia, but roses had a special place in his heart because of their red color.

"This weather is so wonderful!" Syrus sang. "Don't you love it, Jay?"

And the brunette laughed. "It's awesome!" he agreed.

They looked at all the beautiful flowers that bloomed and admired the scenery. Everyone else seemed to have been doing the same thing—it was no surprised, since they were probably trying to enjoy their last day of freedom as well.

Just then, they noticed Alexis approaching from a distance; they could see her coming from the direction of the Obelisk Blue dorm (for what, they didn't know), and she did _not_ look happy. Jaden, in his silly and clumsy nature, had been tugging at a rose to bring it closer to him so he could inhale its scent—but in the process, he accidentally plucked it off.

She walked by them right then, and she raised an eyebrow upon seeing Jaden and what he was doing. "Isn't that not allowed?" she asked. "Crowler's going to have your head."

He just laughed. "It was an accident! Besides, he always wants my head for _some_thing." He grinned, seeming very care-free. "Here—you want it?"

He held the rose out to her with an innocent smile on his face, and Alexis just shook her head.

"Allergies are enough of a pain without those in my room," she told him—though the puppy-dog eyes were hard to resist.

But Jaden was persistent and anyone who knew him could tell you, he wasn't one to give up easiy. And for some reason, he was determined to have her accept a flower. "Aw come on; it's gorgeous! How can you say no?" he asked. "Maybe you want a different flower! How about a lily?"

He approached the lilies carefully and showed them to her, though not plucking one off this time. Alexis sighed, shaking her head once again. He frowned, sighing, and he looked around at all the other different flowers.

"Okay, okay…weelll…what about daisies? Yeah, those are pretty, too!" He walked over to them, but then turned away abruptly—how could he forget about his favorite flower? "Ooh, or maybe gardenias! Yeah, I bet you'd like those! Right, Lex?"

Her tolerance for Jaden's in-your-face, outgoing personality was slowly decreasing."No, Jaden. I _hate_ Spring, and I _don't_ wantany flowers," she bluntly announced. "…at least, not in the season when my allergies are acting up."

Syrus gasped; he never even_ imagined_ anyone hating Spring. It was almost blasphemous! And denying flowers? Alexis certainly wasn't your typical every-day girl…though perhaps that's why everyone seemed so attracted to her. It certainly made her interesting. "You_ hate_ Spring! But how!" he exclaimed in disbelief.

"Yeah, come on! You don't mean that—it's only the most beautiful time of year _ever_," Jaden declared confidently. Certainly no one would be able to disagree with that, but he just had to know— "Why would you hate Spring?"

Alexis sighed, rubbing at her eyes, and she finally stopped, simply staring at them—she was almost glaring. "Why do you _think_?" she hissed.

The two gawked at her, and before long, she was rubbing at them again—and it did not look like a pleasant experience. "Whoa, your eyes—they're red!" Jaden remarked. Syrus frowned upon noticing, and he folded his arms, looking rather worried. Eyes just weren't supposed to be that way. Was something wrong with her?

"Maybe you should get that checked out, Lex," he suggested.

"There's nothing to check out, Sy," she replied. "It's just allergies. It's normal…"

He still looked unappeased. "If you say so…" he shrugged. "I'm going back to the dorm. I'll see you there later, okay, Jaden?"

The little one had walked on and Jaden waved at him. "See ya later, buddy."

Alexis waved too and she moved her hand up to her eyes to rub them again, but Jaden had grabbed it and kept a firm grip on it. Her eyes were already red, and they would only get worse if she kept up.

"Well, it's not going to get better if you rub it you know," Jaden informed her. "Stop it."

She pouted and folded her arms. "It sure makes _me_ feel better," she moped.

Jaden pulled out a napkin from his pocket and handed it to her. "Well, use this, at least, if you have to go at 'em so bad," he offered. "But I'm tellin' ya, it's just gonna get redder."

He smiled understandingly, and Alexis couldn't help but do the same. She sighed, letting her arms fall to her side, and began to wiggle her fingers to keep her hand occupied and away from her eyes. "Fine…I'll stop," she told him.

"Good!" Jaden chirped. He let go of the arm, walking away to pluck a gardenia from the garden of them that grew contently next to the lilies. He just laughed as he looked at them. "One more won't hurt…" he assured himself. He carefully chose the one that looked the most full-grown and struggled to get it loose—he succeeded in the end. "There we go!"

Alexis looked at it; it certainly was pretty.

"You suuurreee you don't want it?" Jaden nudged her with his famous stupid grin that he always had on his face. It was the same one that never ceased to make her smile…

"As sweet as it is of you to offer, Jaden, I'm sure," she replied.

"Come on…maybe your allergies will go away after a while," he reasoned. "Your body might get used to it, you know?"

She looked at him unsurely, scratching her head a little, and she sighed; she was giving in. Slowly, her hand reached out to touch the flower and grab it. She could feel it…

"Jaden Yuki! Were you _illegally_ picking flowers out of _my_ garden!"

The two of them jumped, and Jaden was sweating bullets as he almost lost his balance turning around to see a very_ angry_ Dr. Crowler.

"Dr. Crowler! I—er, I can explain, really!"

"No excuses! You know that it's against the rules. There are people who work very hard to tend to these flowers!" the professor explained.

"I know, I know, but, see, what happened was—"

"Don't bother with Jaden, Dr. Crowler. I plucked the flowers." Alexis snatched both the rose and the gardenia from the Slifer Red's hand.

"Miss Rhodes, I'm shocked!"

And the old geezer took the bait hook, line, and sinker.

"I'm sorry, doctor," she replied. "I was the one who gave them to Jaden. Just to celebrate Spring…"

Jaden raised an eyebrow but did not say a word; Crowler inspected him, and he kept a straight face to not seem suspicious; afterwards, he shook his head and turned to Alexis disappointedly. "Detention, Miss Rhodes," he told her. "And in the first week after break, too—a shame."

He walked away; even if it had all been a lie, she still felt guilty somehow thanks to him. Apparently, teachers were good at guilt trips.

"You didn't have to do that…" Jaden told her.

Alexis just shrugged. "You've been in trouble enough," she replied. "Can't have you getting expelled, now can we? Just be on time tomorrow…"

He saluted her playfully. "Yes ma'am!" he exclaimed.

She didn't believe him, but life could be surprising. Jaden wasn't just early; he was there before Alexis, which shocked her to no end. He had let Sy and Chumley sleep more, but he wanted to be there early. He smiled and waved as he saw her come in; he was talking to Bastian, explaining how 'totally sweet' Alexis was to take the blame for him yesterday.

He walked up to meet her. "So how are your eyes doing?" he asked.

Alexis shrugged, and Jaden decided to get a closer look at them. His face got closer and closer to hers, and she began to feel uncomfortable. She was moving her head back slowly, and Jaden just cupped his hand around his chin.

"Hmm…looks like they're still a little red, but—"

"_Move_ it, Slifer Slacker!"

Before the two of them knew it, their lips were pushed together rather violently, and feeling frightened, Alexis backed away abruptly, putting a hand over her own lips. _Did that…just…happen?_

"Good morning to you too, _Chazz_," Jaden growled. He wiped his lips and frowned, looking innocently over to Alexis. "Sorry about that…I…I mean, you know I wouldn't…I mean, not without your permission, I would never…"

"It's okay, Jaden," she interrupted. "I know."

He smiled, relieved that she didn't hold any grief. Quite oppositely, maybe Chazz had (literally) given them the push they needed. The arrogant Obelisk Blue gave the two a smirk, and continued walking to meet his friends who had been farther down the row.

"So do you still hate Spring?" Jaden asked Alexis hopefully.

She lifted up her hand, revealing the gardenia that he had inadvertently given her the day before, and she smiled at him. "Maybe it's not so bad."


	8. My Worst Fear

**Title: **My Worst Fear  
**Author:** Amm (SoulSeeker)  
**Pairing:** Yuki Juudai/Tenjoin Asuka (Jaden/Alexis)  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh! GX  
**Theme:** #6—the space between dream and reality  
**Rating:** For Everyone (PG)  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own the characters of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX I am just playing 'Barbie' with them, cause god knows they're a lot more fun than real Barbies.  
**Summary:** Everyone was afraid of _some_thing. Even the Queen of Obelisk Blue…

_Yay, #8! Okay. So, first and foremost, **thank you all for 10,000 views!** (Passed that now, actually) I hope everyone will stick around all the way until I'm finished. n.n_

_Second of all, I'd like to give a shout out to **GabeLogan**, who has translated the first two of my J/A ficlets (_Making an Observation_ and _A Spoon Full of Sugar_) into Spanish—it can be found in the Spanish section of Yu-Gi-Oh GX. Thank you :D Anyways, that's it, I guess… Enjoy the story!_

* * *

You know, it's always so weird the way something can look completely different when you see it in a drastically different situation. I don't know if it's weird in a bad or good way, but take the Duel Academy hallways for example.

Who knew they could be that long? I certainly never noticed. Of course, I've also never been late before…no, not me. Not Alexis Rhodes, queen of Obelisk Dorm. God, I hate being called that. I don't get how Zane puts up with all that 'Kaiser' stuff.

I looked at the clock, conveniently set above the door of Crowler's classroom, and I sighed, feeling a little angrier at myself. Even Jaden was usually there by_ this_ time. And that said something. It was like some unwritten law that said no student ever woke up later than him—mainly because no student ever had—and I broke it.

I didn't very much care though. Something else was bothering me. A feeling I was getting, and it wasn't a good one.

…

How did I always manage to be right when I didn't want to be? If I didn't know any better, I would've said I was cursed.

"Hey, Dr. Crowler, sorry I'm…late?"

I froze immediately the second I burst in through the door. Something was _not_ right with that picture. Something was missing, and it was something big. Something that definitely shouldn't have taken more than a minute to notice. It finally hit me.

_Where the hell was everybody?_

The room was empty. Completely empty. Not a single person there; had they cancelled class without me knowing? No. Someone would've told me. Besides, my room mates weren't there. Wait. That was peculiar too. Shouldn't they have woken me up before they went to class? Maybe they tried but…really, I was _not_ that light a sleeper. They would've been able to.

After I finally decided to stop staring at the empty room like an idiot, I walked out to look for everyone. Maybe they changed class location today…but, why would they?

I growled, deciding that I liked the world a lot better when things made sense.

No one in the Obelisk dueling arena…no one in the Ra dueling arena…definitely no one in the Slifer's...

I made my way outside, heading over to Chancellor Sheppard's office. Surely he would've known what was going on. Or at least, he should've.

I never even made it there though. But it was okay…I finally found everyone, thank god. Apparently they all decided to hold an assembly without me, right near the Chancellor's office…but that still didn't really make any sense; what were they doing?

"Oh, Alexis! You're…you're here…"

Suddenly, everyone was staring at me. I certainly did like attention a little bit…but this was ridiculous.

"Duh, Jasmine…we're _supposed_ to be in class. What, did you think that I would ignore the fact that there was _no_ one in the classroom?"

Jasmine looked away shyly, and everyone still continued to stare at me. "What?" I asked daringly. Was it my face? My hair? My blazer? I repeated again: "What!" It wasn't until then that I noticed some people were actually crying. Even the professors.

"You must not have heard yet…" a voice came out of the crowd. No shit—if I had heard of it, I wouldn't have been asking. I turned to Jasmine, giving her a demanding look. She was my roommate; hopefully at least she would tell me what everyone was griping about.

"Jasmine? What's going on?"

She looked around nervously, and then she looked back at me, though still not meeting me eye-to-eye. She looked scared.

"Alexis…it's…it's Atticus…he's…"

I perked up at my brother's name, and my hopes went up slightly—had he come back finally? Judging by everyone's faces, though, this was anything but good news. Suddenly, things started to click together, like a puzzle piece. Things were making sense again. And I didn't like it.

"No…he's not…you're joking, right? What…"

She shook her head. No…she definitely wasn't joking today.

"No…NO!" I pushed my way through the crowed until finally, they began to move out of the way for me. I passed everyone—Zane, Syrus, Bastion…Jaden…They all said 'I'm sorry,' and like a broken record, the words wouldn't stop repeating in my head. It was like an echo. A really, really annoying echo. I hated it.

And that was when I saw him.

Dead.

Atticus was dead—possibly my worst fear ever. I was waiting, just _waiting_, for it to sink in. It hadn't yet, and I didn't want it to.

Then I heard: "It looks like the work of a Shadow Rider." I didn't know who it said it. I didn't really care. My big brother was dead…that phrase began to repeat in my head as well.

"Where…how…"

I couldn't even form correct sentences anymore. All I could do was stare like an idiot again. Why couldn't I ever do anything to help? To change things?

"We found him here this morning…" A hand appeared on my shoulder. It was Zane's. "I'm sorry, Alexis…"

"Stop saying that!" I demanded. I shook his hand away and felt guilty for it for a brief few seconds, but it quickly subsided.. "This isn't happening!"

I refused to accept it. Absolutely not. I covered my face so that no one would see the tears that had came almost out of nowhere; no one would want to see their 'queen' cry. Crying was childish. Crying was weak…

After a while, I stopped caring who saw. I just knelt down beside him, expecting him to spring back to life at yell 'GOTCHA!', or something stupid and silly like that. Then everyone would start laughing, talking about how stupid I was for falling for such a stupid trick.

I had played out the whole scenario in my head, and it cheered me up for about five seconds. When I finally realized how horribly unrealistic and unlikely it was, I stopped fantasizing. For a moment, I thought I was actually beginning to accept the reality of it all. Just for a moment. But it just didn't happen.

I started to cry again—which was annoying, especially when you were the center of attention and everyone noticed.

More hands had appeared to comfort me, but I shook those off too. Chancellor Sheppard stepped out of the crowd and closer to Atticus's body; I thought he was just going to look at it like I had been, so I stepped away, but then he had picked the body up. I began to panic and I saw that he was headed to a group of about four security guards who were holding a coffin, which was (apparently) already prepared for him.

He began to get farther and farther away, without even saying so much as one word to me. I didn't get it. Things were going out of whack again; I was his sister! If anyone should've been going, it was me. Not his principal!

I began to run after him, but something kept me back. For some reason, I couldn't turn around and find out what it was. It was like something was keeping my head faced forward.

"No…no! Let me go! I have to go with them! Let me GO! No! NO!"

"Yes, yes, yes! Get _up_, Lex, or we'll be late!"

My eyes had finally opened. Apparently, they hadn't been—not for the past six hours. The first face I saw was Jaden.

"Man, I never thought I'd be the one wakin' _you_ up," he remarked. "What was all that screaming for, about, anyway?"

"Screaming?" I sat up in my bed, slightly confused. "Oh…" No way. A nightmare? It was so real…I could've sworn it was. I could've bet my life on it—and I would've been dead.

"Meh, you must've just had a nightmare," Jaden said casually. "Come on!"

"Where are we going?" I asked, feeling my arm being pulled. I tried to remember, I really did. But nothing came to me. "Class?"

Jaden just laughed. "No way! Classes are off today. It's a holiday. Remember? You agreed to come see a movie with me?"

"A movie with you?" I repeated. Nope, still couldn't quite remember…I sighed, giving up after a while. "You sure I'm not dreaming all of this?"

Jaden shook his head. "Nope."

Jeez. He sounded so sure of himself. Of course this was Jaden, so it was to be expected. I shouldn't have been surprised. "How do you know?" I finally did get up out of bed, though I stumbled a little bit. I almost fell, but he caught me.

He had a smirk on his face as he approached me. To tell you the truth, it was kind of scary…

"Because in your dream," he explained, "I wouldn't do this."

And he kissed me, like it was nothing. I was happy, but part of me was frustrated. He had done so effortlessly what I had been trying to work up the courage to do for the past _year_. My heart rate increased tenfold, but I still managed a smile. My dream was almost completely forgotten, and I felt good enough to return his smirk.

"You sure about that Jaden?"

He blushed, and I had to laugh.

He was so cute when he blushed.

* * *

_**A/N:** I decided to try a different style. First person from Alexis's point of view. :D I won't do too many of these, but it's a nice break from just the plain third-person narrative. What did you guys think?_


	9. Sealed Promise

**Title: **Sealed Promise  
**Author:** Amm (SoulSeeker)  
**Pairing:** Yuki Juudai/Tenjoin Asuka (Jaden/Alexis)  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh! GX  
**Theme:** #24—good night  
**Rating:** For Everyone (PG)  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own the characters of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. I am just playing 'Barbie' with them, cause god knows they're a lot more fun than real Barbies.  
**Summary:** It was a night she'd never forget. A good night…

_Thanks for 100 reviews! Enjoy #9/30._

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Syrus never liked it when Jaden left their dorm after curfew; it led to nothing but trouble, and the last thing either of them needed on their record was a campus arrest. But, needless to say, when Jaden made up his mind, there was no changing it; he was just stubborn that way. As powerful a character he was though, Jaden still did not control Syrus—he wanted his record as clean as possible, thank you very much, and there was nothing Jaden could do about it.

"I'm not going! You can go ahead and get in trouble all by yourself if you want, but I want _no_ part of it." With a frustrated grunt, Sy turned away from him in his bed and pulled his blanket over himself, covering even his head.

Jaden sighed, and it finally seemed like he was giving up after all that time. He walked to the door looking rather defeated (though Syrus couldn't see it) and Syrus heard it open; he anxiously waited to hear it shut, but the hot-headed brunette couldn't help getting the last word.

"You don't know how to have any fun, y'know that?"

Syrus turned around just in time to see the door shut in his face, and he was left to wonder what his crazy friend was up to.

It wasn't anything _bad_ of course; it never really was. Jaden was a good person—just very daring, and defiant at times. Questioning authority was never a problem for him, and his conscience never bothered him for it.

He pressed on in the darkness, not exactly sure on where he was doing, but he didn't let that stop him. He continued and, looking up towards the sky, it seemed almost like he was looking for something; but finally, he gave a satisfied, approving smile. Tonight was a good night to do this. Perfect, even.

Jaden found himself in an open area near a building he guessed was the Obelisk Blue dorm; it was too dark to see much, but he didn't care.

As long as he could see the stars.

They shone like crazy that night, even crazier than most nights, and many times, you could find little patterns hidden in them. Little patterns that happened to form Duel Monsters—a lot of the time, some of his favorites. God knew they weren't official constellations, and sometimes Jaden wondered if he was simply seeing things, but he enjoyed looking for them regardless.

He had picked a secluded spot, making sure that no one would catch him—or that if they even came out at all, he would have enough time to hide himself. The view was clear, no clouds in sight; and he could just relax.

His fingers playfully connected the stars, and the moonlight had been so bright that he could see the silhouette of his hand against the lit sky. Suddenly however, it disappeared into shadow, and he could see some of the stars 'disappearing' as well—someone was standing over him.

He jumped up rapidly, surprised, but calmed down in a hurry. He could just barely make out Alexis in the moonlight.

"You shouldn't be out here this late," she lectured. "What are you doing?"

"I could ask you the same question," Jaden retaliated. "But if you must know—I'm looking at the stars." He grinned, and the sky quickly called his attention.

"The stars?" Alexis repeated; and she looked up as well, though she looked quite discontent.

"Yeah," Jaden smiled. "You never know what you can find in 'em…See, there's the Winged Kuriboh up there, and I think I see a Flamed Wingman too… and some nights, you can even see Bubbleman." He pointed enthusiastically at the sky, connecting the stars with his fingers and pointing out the patterns he saw—but Alexis seemed disinterested. He saw that as his queue to change the subject. "…and what are _you_ doing out here, anyways? I never saw you as a breaking-the-rules person." The brunette folded his arms demandingly at Alexis and waited for explanation.

"I'm not," she replied hastily. "I just needed to…think, that's all. And some fresh air."

Jaden nodded in understanding, and both sat—laid—down next to each other, staring up into space. "Still worried about the Shadow Riders?" Jaden presumed; and he could almost feel her nodding.

"Can't help it…" Alexis wrapped her hands around the key she had been graciously given to protect, and she let it dangle in front of her, swaying it back and forth hypnotically. She sat up, looking worried. "I can't help thinking that I'm not good enough to face them. And, what if they did something to my brother? What if that's why he's missing?"

She felt a hand on her shoulder and she turned her head, her eyes meeting with Jaden's. "Don't worry about it," he told her. "You're an amazing duelist, and wherever your brother is, we'll all help you find him. You just have to relax. Don't think so much."

There was silence, and Jaden could tell that his words didn't have much affect at all. It just didn't occur to him that the gift of not thinking didn't come naturally to everybody; sometimes truly he wished that everyone was as carefree as he was.

"But how can I not? This is the fate of the world we're dealing with here…"

Jaden just smirked, and his fingers directed her gaze towards the wide open darkness that was the sky. "Just look at the world out there. Look how big this entire world—this_ universe_—is. How can the fate of _one_ Earth be significant?"

He heard a sigh in response; the girl was not convinced. Jaden gave her a small glance, but looked away again.

"Besides…if anything bad were to happen…if anything _really_ bad were to happen…"

Alexis turned to him and shot him a soft-spoken, "What?"

There was a pause, and Jaden seemed in a daze. He didn't say anything, or make any movements, and for a moment she could've sworn he was dead. But his head turned slightly and he flashed a smile that seemed to light up the entire area. "We'll be together, right? Here for each other. Under the same moon, the same sky, the same sun, the same stars…"

She stammered a few moments at his words. "Ah…I…guess so, yeah…there's no reason we wouldn't be…you know…together…"

"Promise me."

"Promise you?" Alexis echoed him.

"Yeah. That no matter what, we'll see through all of this and come out together. That we'll give those Shadow Riders what's comin' to them!" Jaden held up a victory sign, his grin a mile wide. Silence—cold, uneasy silence took over, as Alexis stared at him.

"I…promise," she replied finally.

"Good." He smirked and stared intently at her, waiting a few moments before uttering bravely, "Isn't a promise usually sealed with something?"

Alexis blinked a few moments, processing his words and she pinched herself lightly to make sure that she was reading in between the lines correctly. Jaden had looked expectant, but he finally looked away when he got no response from her.

It was then that he suddenly felt a brief moment of moisture on his cheek; a quick peck that sent shivers up and down his spine and made his body go stiff, sitting upright—he had been kissed.

He looked over to see Alexis, a beautiful smile plastered on her face—an image he'd probably remember forever. "Happy?" she asked, with a devilish smirk.

"Maybe," he replied. He had a smirk of his own, and Alexis knew that the 'maybe' translated into 'yes.' For the few moments she had spent with him, she had completely forgotten about the Shadow Riders—and she was happy too.

It was a good night indeed—one she wouldn't forget.

* * *

_**A/N:** I know that some of you want to bash my head in for making you wait so long, but trust me. I have damn good reason for not having this out._

_On April 19, about ten days ago, my absolute best friend in the whole world decided to kill herself. She threw herself in front of a train, and after praying to god for a whole afternoon and a night that she wasn't the 'young unidentified woman' who had been struck, it was confirmed that morning that it was her._

_I took her death pretty hard, and so it was hard to focus on much else but her, so please, bear with me while I get through this. You guys'll get your stories. Promise._


	10. Through a Stranger's Eyes

**Title: **Through a Stranger's Eyes  
**Author:** Amm (SoulSeeker)  
**Pairing:** Yuki Juudai/Tenjoin Asuka (Jaden/Alexis)  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh! GX  
**Theme:** #1—look over here  
**Rating:** For Everyone (PG)  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own the characters of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. I am just playing 'Barbie' with them, cause god knows they're a lot more fun than real Barbies.  
**Summary: **I'm only an observer, watching everyone from afar.

_Numero diez, w00t!_

* * *

I'm only an observer, watching everyone from afar.

That's the way it's always been, and I guess it really wouldn't surprise me if that's the way it stayed. I couldn't say it really bothered me—I mean, no one really notices us red-rejects anyway. Even a great duelist like Jaden, and someone as sweet as Syrus. The two made such a great team that sometimes I wondered if I was getting in their way. Sure they were my roommates, but I just couldn't help feeling like a third wheel or something at times.

Actually, come to think of it, Jaden and Syrus weren't all that bad. Jaden and Alexis were the ones who made me feel sort of … "third-wheel-y." It made sense though; I mean, they sure acted like enough of a couple, even though they were 'just friends.' From anyone else's point of view though, you would definitely think that there was something going on between them—or if not, that there should've been.

But I guess it's really none of anyone's business but their own. We all see different things when we look at each other, and if Jaden and Alexis only saw each other as friends, then that was their decision; they were the only ones that mattered.

When I saw Jaden and Alexis though, they were always together. Always. Like ham and cheese, spaghetti and meatballs, ice cream and sprinkles…well, you get the idea. In fact, I had a beautiful sketch of them in my mind that I've intended to draw out many times, but have never had the chance to. I figured then was a good a time as any so I was just about to pull out my sketch book, but then my communicator started to go off. I almost didn't pick it up, but I did.

"Hey Chum! You still sleepin'? Come on, big guy, come meet us on the beach! You _gotta_ hang out with us on your last day here!"

It was Jaden. I actually had to think about what he meant for a moment when he mentioned that it was my last day; I had completely forgotten that I would be leaving that wonderful place the next day to go work for Maximillion Pegasus.

I nodded and smiled. "All right, all right, I'll be there soon."

Jaden grinned. "All righty then—see ya!"

I grabbed my sketchbook after hanging up and grabbed one of my pencils—it was one of those fancy ones that all the artists used. I'd never been able to afford one before, but dad sent me one for my birthday that just passed (for once, it wasn't hot sauce!), and I've been using it ever since.

I headed down to the beach and saw them from a distance, splashing and playing in the water like little kids. Jaden and Alexis, that is. Syrus was simply laying down in the sand, and it looked like he was sun bathing.

"Hey Chumley, over here!" Alexis had seen me and waved. "Come on in, the water's great!"

I waved back but simply sat down, not too far from Syrus. I didn't particularly feel like getting wet—or my sketchbook wet—so I stayed where I was and ignored the twos' signals to get in the water. Besides, Sy looked kind of lonely.

"Hey Chum, how are ya? Excited about going?"

I turned to the little guy and nodded with a smile. "Yeah, excited, and nervous too. And plus I'm really gonna miss you guys!"

Syrus giggled. "We'll miss you too," he replied. "But don't worry; we'll still keep in touch, won't we?"

By then my hands had almost been moving on their own and I was already sketching something. He didn't seem to notice, though. "Of course we will," I assured him. "That's a duh."

We both chuckled, and we watched as Jaden and Alexis continued to splash each other. They'd also resorted to playing with waves and randomly picking up sand and tossing it, just for kicks—they were simply having fun, and it looked very…normal.

"They're amusing, aren't they?" Sy grinned. "Why aren't you out there with them?"

I shrugged. "Probably for the same reason you aren't."

"You mean you don't like being a third wheel either?" Syrus chuckled, and it was then that I noticed his head turn in my direction. "Hey, what are you drawing? Can I see?"

Instinctively I pressed the sketchbook against my chest and hugged it protectively. "Not yet," I said teasingly. "I won't let you see it until I'm done."

He did a small Syrus pout, the one only Sy could do, and I almost gave in to it, but the picture remained hidden in the end. In actuality, I was just waiting for Jaden and Alexis to come in so they could all see it at the same time; I didn't really care if it was finished.

I continued to work on it, noticing that Sy had spaced out again, and I kept working until I was basically done. All that was left was the coloring, but I hadn't brought my colored pencils with me, anyways. Or my paints, or my markers or anything. Oh well. It was just a rough sketch anyways. I had wanted to get that image of Jaden and Alexis I had down on paper before I had to leave them. Heck, maybe I could give it to them as a present. I wasn't sure if it was that great, though. It was really the first time I had drawn two people…well…kissing.

"Hey, Chum's drawing something! Look, Lex!"

"Ooh, really?"

Jaden and Alexis finally decided to join us, and I jumped, nearly dropping my sketchbook. I caught it, luckily, and Sy had finally came back down to Earth. "Uh…yeah I just um…got bored, I guess," I told them.

"Can we see it?" Alexis grinned.

Jaden smiled. "Yeah, come on, what did you draw?"

It would've been a little awkward being there for their reaction to the picture, so I definitely wanted to get away somewhere, at least while they looked at it. "Uhh…sure, you guys can see it," I told them. "In fact, can you hold on to it while I go to the bathroom?" I held the sketchbook up to see if anyone would take it, and Jaden quickly took it with a grin.

"Sure buddy, go ahead!"

And I ran as fast as I could before they could say anything. It wasn't long however before I heard Syrus's loud laughter, and I though I had dashed away quickly, I could hear him even from miles away.

"_Jaden and Alexis,  
__Sitting in a tree!  
__K-I-S-S-I-N-G…!"_

* * *

_**A/N:** Yep. So I decided Chumley didn't get enough love, so I did an entire story from his point of view! I had to do it, and I love that they made him an artist. Anyways, this was a little different from my others but I hope you liked it nonetheless. Until next time! Much love! Ah, and thank for all your lovely reviews last time…_


	11. Resisting Temptation

**Title: **Resisting Temptation  
**Author:** Amm (SoulSeeker)  
**Pairing:** Yuki Juudai/Tenjoin Asuka (Jaden/Alexis)  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh! GX  
**Theme:** #9—dash  
**Rating:** For Everyone (PG)  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own the characters of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. I am just playing 'Barbie' with them, cause god knows they're a lot more fun than real Barbies.  
**Summary: **Jaden's never said no to a challenge, but he's actually thinking twice about this one.

_Number eleven…please enjoy, sorry for the wait! _

* * *

Jaden hated tennis.

It was a known fact—so no one was surprised to see the overjoyed look on his face when the new unit was started in their gym class. Why they even had it in Duel Academy, he would never know, but at least tennis was over. He had to wonder though: was Track and Field going to be any better?

"It can't be that bad," he assured himself. "Right, Lex?"

Alexis shrugged as they walked towards the track field. "I dunno, Jaden," she replied. "I suppose not, though it would depend on who the teacher is. They haven't made that entirely too clear…"

"Guess you're right," he replied.

There was silence between them. It was how it always was when it was just the two of them—awkward. Chumley had left; Syrus was sick that day…it was just them. "So…you met the new transfer student yet? Or seen her?" Alexis made eye contact with him, making a valiant attempt to get some sort of conversation going.

"Transfer student?" Jaden repeated. "I didn't know we did that. From where, North Academy?"

Alexis giggled at his naivety. "Yup," she replied. "She's a hot one too—she's got all the Obelisk guys swooning. Well, except for the Kaiser of course. You know how he is."

Jaden nodded. "Of course," he replied. He wasn't the brightest crayon in the tool box, but he could still tell that Alexis was trying to get a conversation going, and so he tried his best to comply. "It's…kind of surprising though."

The Obelisk girl eyed him suspiciously. "What's surprising?" she asked.

"I mean—you're the Obelisk Queen, aren't you? The guys were swooning over you," he commented. "And now they're all over this new girl? I dunno. It's just that if I were you, I might feel kind of…kind of…"

"Jealous?" Alexis finished with a chuckle.

"Yeah, that's the word."

The two of them laughed, and Alexis just shook her head. "Nah, I'm not jealous," she assured him. "Don't worry about me. Just don't lose your head over her, too—I'm not jealous but it _is_ pretty…well…pretty…"

"Annoying?"

"Yeah, that's the word."

The two laughed again, and the awkwardness level seemed to have dropped a lot. That is, of course, until Chazz made his way into the picture—or rather, "_the_ Chazz." This Obelisk blue always had a knack for making things awkward—or just being plain crude; annoying even.

"Well, look what slacker decided to show up," he taunted. Alexis simply rolled her eyes and had just opened her mouth to say something before she heard Jaden's laughter. The boy never took anything meaningless like that to heart—an admirable quality.

"Good to see you too, buddy!" he responded jokingly.

"Come on Jaden, just ignore him," Alexis whispered, tugging his arm to move past him—but it seemed he was ignoring her.

"So are you as bad at running as you are in tennis?" Chazz teased. "Or are you worse?"

Jaden just folded his arms, seeming unaffected as the students who were there laughed, and he simply smirked. "You know, I dunno, Chazz, I'm not really sure," he answered. "But wherever I'm at, I'm better than _you_."

Oohs and ahhs ushered from the crowds, as Chazz just laughed. "Care to put your cards where your mouth is?" he dared.

And Jaden just blinked. "What?"

Chazz just sighed, slapping his forehead. "A _bet_, stupid. Do you want to _bet_ on it?"

"No!" Alexis chimed in. "Jaden _don't_—it would be the stupidest reason to lose your rare cards ever!" She tugged at his blazer's sleeve again, but the look on his face made her let go; it was a look of determination, that look that told you that he wasn't going to just sit there and back out of the challenge—which Jaden never did in all his time there at the academy.

"What, you don't think I can do it?" he asked.

"That's not it!" Alexis shook her head. "It's just that…that—"

"It's settled then!" Chazz interrupted. "Twice around this track—that's half a mile. The winner gets the loser's most rare card AND…"

He paused, probably only for dramatic effect, and looked around at the spectators they had drawn.

"And what, Chazz?" Jaden asked.

"A kiss. What do you say, Lexy?" Chazz winked to Alexis, and he barely had time to finish the question before Alexis began to shake her head violently. She had gotten into this situation before, and she wasn't going to again—not if she could help it!

"No way, Chazz, you go find some other girl to be your lackey!" she exclaimed. She looked over to Jaden. "Come on, Jaden, don't do this. You know this is stupid."

For the first time ever, Jaden was trying to resist the temptation; he was thinking twice before diving head-first into an offered challenge. It would've been so easy to say yes, but of course, he had only been bluffing, and he knew it. He didn't know how well he could run, but he sure as heck knew one thing: he was not quite the athletic type, and could very easily lose.

The taunting was too much however, and the crowd seemed to get louder and louder. Some had been calling him names, while others simply clucked like a chicken to mock him.

"Fine!" he exclaimed in the end, prompting a horrified look from Alexis. And time seemed to freeze for a moment as everyone gawked at him. He'd collapsed under the pressure like Chazz had hoped, and like Alexis had feared. "I'll take the challenge. I've never said no before, and there's no reason—"

"_What's going on here!_"

No one dared move an inch, except for Alexis, who smiled and mimed a "yes!" as she saw Dr. Crowler approach the throng of students. "Jaden? Chazz?" His glare froze them in place. "What _are_ you doing? You know this may be gym class, but it gives you no excuse to act like monkeys!"

The two of them nodded slowly, and the doctor had turned to the rest of the students, who all remained dead silent, wide-eyed and attentive. "And that goes for ALL of you, y'hear? And the teacher being late doesn't give you an excuse either! Now let's get this started. And since Jaden and Chazz seem to be all riled up and ready to go, we'll start with them…"

Jaden gulped and shot a glance at Chazz, who looked almost as frightened as he was. The students began to whisper amongst themselves—about everything, from who would've won the challenge had Crowler not arrived, to what Crowler was to make them do. The brunette Slifer could barely take two steps towards the crazy excuse for a man before being stopped.

"Wait," Alexis whispered. Jaden stopped and turned to her, right as her lips met his forehead. She smiled as Jaden rubbed the spot, looking utterly confused.

"What was that for?" he asked.

"Your prize," she replied with a smile. "You don't always have to get first place to win one, you know." She winked and he smiled back warmly, slightly red in the face, but Alexis had pulled him back once more, startling him.

"Wait," she repeated. "One more thing."

Before he could react, she had kissed him on the cheek, which was already red hot from the previous kiss. Jaden raised an eyebrow again, his heart racing. He finally decided: he was doomed to never understand her—or her actions. "And that…?"

She simply smiled, taking a step back.

"For not swooning over the transfer student and making me…you know."

Jaden simply giggled, nodding as he temporarily ignored (blocked out…) the demands from Dr. Crowler that were being barked at him through the murmurs of the crowd.

"Yeah. I know."

* * *

_**A/N:** W00t, I'm back with a vengeance :P Hope you liked this one. Hah, sorry bout that…I had to take a break from writing for a bit because my school work was beginning to be too much for me. But school's out now, so YAY. I'll have more time to write, but tomorrow, I'll be off to Thailand. I'll have internet access still, so I still get to update my fics—don't worry. Hopefully my speed in getting this out will pick up again soon. _

_Till next time. I gots packin' to do! (runs off) _


	12. Mutual Trust

**Title:** Mutual Trust  
**Author:** Amm (SoulSeeker)  
**Pairing:** Yuki Juudai/Tenjoin Asuka (Jaden/Alexis)  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh! GX  
**Theme:** #22—cradle  
**Rating:** For Everyone (PG)  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own the characters of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. I am just playing 'Barbie' with them, cause god knows they're a lot more fun than real Barbies.  
**Summary:** Well, no one can look glamorous _all _the time…

_Number 12. W00t!_

* * *

Alexis ran as fast as she could back towards the Slifer Red dorms. She had just been there not five minutes ago, maybe ten at the most, but it wasn't until she made it back into her own dorm that she realized she had left her deck over there when she had been practicing some dueling skills with Jaden.

How she, being a high-ranking and responsible Obelisk Blue student at Duel Academy, could forget such a vital part of her dueling education, she would never know. But she was determined to not let it happen again. She ran up the stairs, the very ones which lead pretty much directly to Jaden's dorm room, and she took a few moments to pause for breath.

After about a minute, she finally knocked on the door, hoping that she wasn't waking anyone up—she knew that Chumley tended to turn in pretty early—but no answer.

"Jaden? Sorry, it's Alexis. Could you open the door? I forgot my…"

Upon twisting the knob, Alexis found the door was actually open—odd, considering students usually locked their doors when they left their rooms, for obvious security reasons. It probably meant that he only stepped out for a moment, and wasn't planning on being out long, wherever he went. "Jaden?" She ventured inside slowly, and apparently they had _all _gone. No one was there.

She shrugged, figuring maybe this made things a bit easier. Now she could just grab her deck and go.

Alexis found it right where she had left it, on Jaden's bed where they had dueled earlier. Someone had decided to move it onto Jaden's pillow. She wondered why, though she decided it didn't really matter, and she wanted to get out of there before it got too dark. The sun was already setting.

She took her deck, ready to sprint with it, but her hands had lingered on the pillow and she felt…_some_thing. She wasn't exactly sure what it was, but it was something square, and hard. Her curiosity getting the better of her, Alexis lifted up the pillow to see what it was, and then she saw it. Something that fed her curiosity even more.

It was a book—seemingly an album of sorts. Alexis raised an eyebrow at it, pulling it out and laying it on top of the pillow it had been under, and she opened it. Upon realizing what it was, she immediately fell into a fit of laughter. She couldn't help it, and she didn't even try to control it. It was just too cute, something she thought she'd never see.

Jaden, about fourteen years ago.

It was an album that, as far as she could see, was Jaden's life. Flipping to the more recent pictures, she could even see pictures of him with all his friends at Duel Academy—including herself. Her favorite pictures though were the baby ones from his early years; more generally, the ones before they met, just because she'd never seen him that way before, but the cake definitely went to the baby pictures.

Alexis pulled out one that she particularly liked; it was one-year-old Jaden sitting comfortably in his little cradle, his mouth wide open to receive a spoonful of oh-so-yummy baby food from what she assumed to be his mother's hand. If you looked closely, you could even notice light lipstick marks on his forehead—a kiss from his mother or close relative, maybe. She laughed silently, realizing how perfect some of these pictures would be for blackmail. After all, no one could look glamorous _all _the time. But she would never do that to a friend.

Just then, she heard footsteps. Panicked, she quickly shut the album and put it back in its place under the pillow, but forgot about the one picture she had in her hand. She didn't have time to take the album back out to put it back, so she did what her gut reaction told her to—stuff it in her pocket. She clutched onto her deck for dear life and, from there, tried her best to look natural as she heard the door creak open.

Jaden appeared first, but didn't look surprised to see her.

"Oh! Hey, Lex," he greeted her. "I see you realized you forgot your deck. I would've given it back to you later, y'know. You didn't have to come back."

Even though she saw him standing there, his voice still made her jump slightly in surprise—as if him speaking made his presence there absolute. "Oh, yeah! Well, I, uh…didn't want to wait till morning to get it back, y'know…kinda weird being without my deck and all," Alexis laughed nervously. "You know how it is."

Jaden raised an eyebrow at her, an amused look on his face. "You okay?" he chuckled lightly. "You look kind of nervous. What's wrong?"

Alexis shook her head almost violently. "No, no nothing! Why would I be nervous? That's silly…" she assured him. She wasn't the most convincing actor in the world, but for the time being, it seemed to be working well enough…she hoped. He approached her, seeming to observe her, and he stared at her like he was going to just reach inside her pocket right then and there and call her out

"Okay…well, you should probably get going then, before it gets dark," he suggested, motioning to the door.

Eager to leave, Alexis nodded, slowly approaching the door as she held back the urge to run. "Right," she replied. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow in class?"

Jaden nodded. "Yup. Till tomorrow," he waved.

And she bolted out, running at full speed almost straight into Syrus and Chumley, who were on their way back from the bathroom. She didn't even greet them, her mind only bent on getting away and back to her dorm where it was safe. She'd never seen Jaden seriously angry before, but something told her that he wouldn't have been happy to know that she had snooped her way into getting something _that_ blackmail-worthy.

Something about having a picture of Jaden though—even if it was from fourteen or so years ago—made her happy. She didn't want to give it back; but she would do so as soon as she could, because she had more respect for her friend than that. Because if she was going to have possession over a picture like that, she wanted it to be because he trusted her enough to give it to her.

Not because she stole it.

She sighed, and after much consideration, she found herself heading towards the Slifer dorms yet again with the picture clutched in her hand. Luckily, she hadn't gotten too terribly far before her guilt began to pull her back, and she didn't have that far to walk.

Alexis knocked on Jaden's door upon reaching it, and to her surprise, the door flew open, which startled her heart into skipping a beat or two. Her eyes wide open, she stood frozen in place. Jaden was there, and a peek inside the door revealed Syrus and Chumley crouched on the floor, seemingly on a search for something.

"Alexis?" Jaden asked. "Sorry about that, I was looking for—"

Suddenly, the brunette froze mid-sentence, and Alexis jumped upon realizing why. She again followed her gut reaction, immediately throwing her arms behind her back along with the picture, but she quickly regained her composure and remembered why she had come back. "Yeah…I…um…see, I…came…to…" Her arms slowly made their way in front again, and she held the picture out in front of him. She couldn't even finish the sentence.

Jaden stared for a moment, and suddenly he began to laugh, which, again, surprised Alexis. She blinked at him, wondering if he was at all mad, which he didn't seem like at all. "J…Jaden?"

"So I guess you found my pictures," he chuckled.

Alexis nodded, scratching her head a little as a nervous habit, though there was still no sign of anger from him. "I'm sorry," she muttered. "I shouldn't have taken it. I really wasn't going to do anything with it you know, I was just…"

"It's okay," Jaden interrupted her with a smile. "You can have it."

Stunned, Alexis blinked and took a moment to process what he said; to make sure she wasn't hearing things. "_What_?"

Jaden nodded. "You can have it," he repeated with a laugh. "I hate those pictures, and any chance to get rid of 'em is good enough for me. I'm just glad that this one's going to someone I trust."

Alexis smiled, playing the words over and over in his head. He trusted her. She should've known he wouldn't have gotten angry; jumping to conclusions was never a good thing, though it was good to be prepared for anything, she supposed. "Thanks," she said finally. "I'm glad you trust me."

Jaden just shrugged. "Well of course I do," he replied. "Don't _you _trust _me_?"

She nodded as fast as her reflexes would allow her to, not even having to think about the answer. "Of course."

"Enough to let me walk you back to your dorm?" Jaden offered. "It's getting dark."

Upon around her, she realized he was right; she hadn't even noticed it. She smiled, nodding again, and though normally, she'd walk back herself (she was more than capable of it), that night, she just couldn't say no. "Sure," she grinned.

"Cool."

And so they walked slowly towards the Obelisk Blue dorm, savoring their moment under the rising moon and the ever changing sky. It was cold, but with the two of them together under the blanket of their newly affirmed mutual trust, Alexis couldn't think of any place warmer.

* * *

_**A/N:**_ _And so the most cliché, corny line I could think of brings us to the end of Kiss #12 for Jaden and Alexis xD It was an idea that just kind of hit me last night, so I decided to write it to see where it'd take me, and well, there it is. I'm pretty satisfied with it, so I hope you guys enjoyed it too (as I always do.) Well, ciao for now, I suppose. And thank you for _**_20,000 plus _**_views!_


	13. Dear Diary

**Title:** Dear Diary  
**Author:** Amm (SoulSeeker)  
**Pairing:** Yuki Juudai/Tenjoin Asuka (Jaden/Alexis)  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh! GX  
**Theme:** #14—radio-cassette player  
**Rating:** For Everyone (PG)  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own the characters of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. I am just playing 'Barbie' with them, cause god knows they're a lot more fun than real Barbies.  
**Summary:** You wanted it? You can have it.

_13/30_

* * *

It was an ordinary diary. Pretty-in-pink with white lettering on the cover that read "Hugs and Kisses"…Alexis didn't think it could get any more girly than it already was. She didn't really like it much; it didn't really match who she was at all, but Jasmine had bought for her, and she wasn't one to be rude, so she kept it.

Besides, it served its purpose well enough. She carried it around everywhere with her, and though she never saw herself as one to keep a diary, she found it incredibly useful for writing down her thoughts. It was said that at times, it made people feel better to keep a diary; who would've thought it would actually work?

She wrote anything in it…her feelings, ideas she had for her deck, how bored she was during class…it was a great way to release energy.

Jasmine saw her writing in it one innocent day, right before lunch. They always met beneath the big sakura tree by the Blue dorms, and she supposed she was writing in it to kill time waiting for her. She was flattered that she was using her gift, but man, all that writing—if she knew that she was going to write that much, she would've gotten her a radio-cassette recorder to use instead. Of course, that was much less private, and then her voice would tire instead…

"That's a lot of writing you're doing," she commented, noticing that Alexis finally looked up.

She quickly shut the book and put the pen back in the spiral bind, where it stayed to keep from getting lost. She couldn't help but look nervous. "Oh, um…yeah," she stammered in reply. "Sorry. Didn't hear you come up." Growling under her breath, Alexis tucked her hair behind her ears to keep occupied. She hated being surprised like that.

Jasmine shrugged, sitting down. "No worries." The girl threw something at Alexis, lightly, knowing—or at least hoping—that she'd catch it. "Made a boxed lunch for you."

Alexis fell back a bit in surprise, and she let the lunch fall on her lap, unharmed. She smiled in reply and immediately began to look inside. Suddenly, she felt hungry. "Thanks! Good thing too, I gave my lunch I prepared for myself to Jaden as his breakfast this morning. That dolt's always late." Laughing a bit, she watched a sly smirk come over Jasmine's face. She'd been digging into her lunch as well.

"So what's he gonna eat for his lunch then?" Jasmine took a bite of food, leaning back against the tree. The weather was nice that day; cool, and just enough breeze for the temperature to feel just right.

"Guess he's going to have to eat the Slifer food," Alexis replied.

"Not that he minds it."

"Nope, not a bit."

The two laughed, Alexis licking some stray soy sauce off her fingers.

"I invited him to join us today," she added upon remembering. "I guess he forgot."

Jasmine shrugged. She honestly couldn't say that she minded the lack of Jaden. "Big surprise there," she said mockingly. "Why're you always hanging around him anyway? And today you even gave him your lunch. What's with that? You like him or something?"

"He's a friend." Alexis rolled her eyes. "I hang around you all the time too, remember? I doesn't mean I _like_ him. Not like that anyway."

"Yeah, yeah, sure." Jasmine stuck her tongue out. "Guess there's only one way to really find out though." She smirked.

"Oh yeah?" Alexis raised an eyebrow at her with folded arms. She'd piqued her interest, and she happened to notice Jasmine's gaze shift to her diary. "And what's that?"

It happened in a flash; she didn't even have time to react! Jasmine had snatched her diary away from right under her nose, and immediately she began to flip through it. "Why, reading your thoughts of course," she replied with a giggle. She sprung to her feet now, preparing to run—which was good for her, because Alexis looked like she was ready to pounce any second.

"Hey!" Alexis began to run after her, but Jasmine stopped, making her stop too. She nodded mockingly, flipping through the pages as if she was reading a prize-winning novel.

"I see, I see…" she grinned, feigning understand. "So all this time…"

"Give it back!"

Alexis growled, holding out her hand. But Jasmine didn't comply. She slowly began to back away, and neither said a word. Alexis followed her, ready to speed up at a moment's notice if Jasmine broke out into a run. What she'd written in there was her business and her business only!

"_Dear Diary…I can't believe Jaden was so late, he didn't even have time for breakfast. He's so stupid sometimes…I don't even know why I like him…but he's really a sweet guy. So caring and understanding…_" Jasmine began to laugh. "Oh, Alexis, this is absolutely _rich_."

"GIVE IT!"

She threw herself forward, reaching for the book, but Jasmine pulled it away.

"_What _about me?"

The two girls froze in place and turned around to find the source of the voice they'd heard. And when they saw the red blazer, the brown hair, and the goofy face, they knew exactly who it was. Alexis looked mortified, but Jasmine just looked amused.

"Jaden, old buddy old pal! Just the man I've been looking for!" She walked over to him and put a hand over his shoulder, which she could tell was making him a little uncomfortable, and confused. He had to wonder: what exactly was going on?

"I am?" Jaden pointed to himself, and before he knew it, Jasmine shoved the diary in his hands. He looked at it with a raised eyebrow. "_Hugs and Kisses_—what is this?"

"Never mind that, just take it and run!"

Just as Jaden was opening the book to read, Jasmine had pushed him forward, giving him a two-second head start on Alexis, who immediately began to go after him. "Jaden, stop! I need that back!" She could NOT let him read that diary, but she couldn't be angry at him, either…this was annoying.

She didn't have to tell him though to stop though. He tripped on his own two feet all by himself, falling to the ground with a painful-sounding "ow!" Anger and worry immediately turned into concern, and Alexis immediately ran up to him. "Hey, hey…" Out of breath now, she put a hand on his shoulder, looking around to see if there were any evident injuries. "Are you okay? Give me that!"

The diary snatched from his hands, Jaden stood up and began to brush himself off…this was definitely going to leave grass stains. He couldn't help but notice that Alexis's priorities were a tad out of order. "Gee, I'm fine, thanks," he cooed sarcastically. Alexis felt guilt ever slightly tugging on her.

"Sorry," she grimaced. "But that's private. Jasmine stole it from me."

Jaden blinked, looking kind of suspicious, and maybe even a little curious. "What could you possibly have to hide from me?" he wondered.

Alexis just shook her head with a chuckle, clamping the diary shut. "You'll see one day." She began to back away—it looked like she was heading back to Dr. Crowler's class room. "I'll see you in class, okay? Don't worry about it."

She walked away from him, expecting him to follow, but it seemed he didn't. Perhaps he stayed to think for a while; she didn't know, but she stopped to think for a moment too. There was no way to erase Jasmine's memory of what she read, but if she had any shred of decency left, she'd know to keep quiet. Just to be on the safe side though, and to make sure no one else read it, she began to tear out the pages of the diary that she'd written on. Tearing them into little shreds, she played with them like confetti, and when every last one was gone, she pulled out a pen and began to write.

After she was done, she pocketed the pen, and, upon passing Jasmine again, who she imagined must have been waiting for the two of them to return, she tossed the diary at her. Part of her was hoping that it would hit her, but the girl had caught it instead. Alexis just smirked at her and waved, continuing on to class before she was late.

Jasmine had looked stunned, and slowly she opened the diary, first noticing the little fringes left from the page tearing. And then she saw the words in pen.

_You wanted this? You can have it._

_-Lex_

She blinked for a second, and then shook her head. Alexis was her friend. And if she was going to crush on a guy like Jaden, then well…she'd just have to deal. How she had communicated that message to her without even saying a single word though, Jasmine would never know.

And maybe it didn't matter.

* * *

_**A/N: **The oh-so-lucky number thirteen, at last. Hope you enjoyed it. The half-way point is coming up, isn't it? Hehe._


	14. Good Luck Charm

**Title: **Good Luck Charm  
**Author:** Amm (SoulSeeker)  
**Pairing:** Yuki Juudai/Tenjoin Asuka (**Dub names used**.)  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh! GX  
**Theme:** #23—candy  
**Rating:** For Everyone (PG)  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own the characters of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. I am just playing 'Barbie' with them, cause god knows they're a lot more fun than real Barbies.  
**Summary:** Jaden, you sure make studying difficult sometimes.

_14._

* * *

In the dead silence of Jaden's Slifer Red dorm room, the only sound that could be heard was the air conditioning. Occasionally, you could hear the tapping of a pencil, or the muttering of some Duel Monsters terms, in a bare whisper. It was always like that, when a large written exam was forthcoming. Especially one written by Dr. Crowler. It was study-time.

Well…almost. If Jaden's attention span had actually let him do such a thing. There were only two people in the room—Jaden and…someone else—and you would've thought that, without Chumley and Syrus to distract him, it would've been easier to concentrate. But no.

He sat idly, toying with a bowl of candy that Syrus had bought for them to share. It had everything—Snickers, Hershey's Kisses, Milky Ways…anything chocolate that anyone could ever want, and it was certainly more interesting than the review packet in front of him. He was amusing himself, throwing a Crunch bar up and down—and suddenly, he chucked it across the room with a _thud._

"_Stop_ that."

Alexis Rhodes, studious Obelisk Blue, had tossed the Crunch bar (which had hit her in the head) back at him. Jaden, amused by this reaction, let his stubbornness take over…and threw it again.

She sighed, holding onto the Crunch bar this time, and simply opted to ignore him, not even sparing him a glance.

Jaden responded with an amused smirk, followed by another Crunch bar, aimed directly at her back.

"You know, if you haven't noticed, I'm actually trying to study." Alexis turned to him with a raised eyebrow. Twirling the pencil in her hand in a threatening manner, she shook her head. "You're making that really, really difficult."

Not being able to resist, the bored Slifer threw yet another candy bar, at which Alexis hit and sent flying back in his direction. An annoyed expression on her face, Jaden caught the bar and simply laughed as he made his way over to her. "Come on," he grinned. "You're being all serious; that's no fun. You've been studying there for at least an hour now—don't you think you deserve a break?"

Alexis's eyes rolled. "Maybe if you stopped distracting me with your silly games long enough for me to get somewhere, I would," she replied.

Jaden simply yawned. "Can't help it if I'm bored…" He then walked over to his bed—making it a point to step on his study packet on the way—and laid down. "Besides, you _know_ I don't like studying. Why didn't you go study with the Kaiser, or Chazz or something?"

Without even looking up from her packet, Alexis simply rolled her eyes at the insensitivity in Jaden's voice. "What, are you kicking me out?" she asked defensively. "I'm not even supposed to be in here. I practically had to beg Crowler to give me permission to come into your Slifer Red dorm to study, and after all that, you're telling me I shouldn't have bothered…"

"No!" Jaden protested. "It's not that I don't want you here…it's just…well…" Unwrapping a Milky Way bar and biting off a piece, just to keep busy, he (for once) tried desperately to choose his words carefully. "I mean, I can see that you want to study…but I don't. It's just a strategy that just doesn't work for me, you know? And if you want to study, you might as well be with other people who want to study, too, right? Or else your grade would suffer. And I don't want that."

There was a silent pause, as Alexis stared at him, like he'd just found the cure for cancer or something. _Wow. Never thought I'd hear something that logical come out of his mouth_, she thought to herself. _Nice save. Jerk._

Moments passed, and Jaden didn't know what to make of her lack of response. It was hard to read girls, he decided, and he doubted he'd ever understand them. Luckily however, she saved him the trouble that time. "Yeah, all right, fine," Alexis muttered with a smirk. "Just stop playing your games and let me concentrate for more than five minutes, and I'll stop being such a goody-two-shoes."

"But I'm not playing any games," Jaden argued.

At that, Alexis raised an eyebrow, with a don't-give-me-that-nonsense face. She didn't say anything, hoping that her expression would speak for itself.

"But I'm not!" Jaden added, seeing the face. "Games have rules. This one doesn't."

Technicalities—people like Jaden learned to use them well. Much to Alexis's frustration. "Yeah, well, I know a game, and it does have rules." She folded her arms. "It's called _Duel Monsters_. And I sure as heck hope you know it well, because if you keep up like this, Crowler's never going to let you move up to Ra Yellow or Obelisk Blue, where you belong."

"I don't think he plans on letting me anyways," Jaden said in a laugh. "And that's fine by me. Whatever."

Alexis could only laugh at his feigned apathy before beginning to scribble another answer down in her packet. She was almost done anyways, so she supposed little distractions weren't that bad. Besides, it was the day before the test. There wasn't really a whole lot that could be done at that point anyway, but she knew that it was worth a shot.

"Hey," Jaden chimed up suddenly, "if you're so worried about it, why don't you try using a good luck charm?"

There was a pause, and Alexis had to bite her tongue to keep herself from giggling at his childishness. _Good luck charms_, she mused, shaking her head. _Yeah, right._ "I don't have one," she replied finally. "They never really work for me."

She saw Jaden putting a hand to his chin, seemingly deep in thought. It figured—of all the things to concentrate on and really put his effort into, he chose good luck charms. For her, no less. Some day, someone would have to talk to the boy about priorities.

Suddenly, the brunette dug into his deck and pulled out a card. Which one it was, she couldn't see right away, but when he handed it to her, she saw that it was the Winged Kuriboh. "Here; you can use this then. For this test at least," he grinned. "It's worked wonders for me before, but I think you need it more than I do this time around."

Alexis raised an eyebrow as she took the card, feeling thankful yet perturbed at the same time. Looking at the card, she made her eyes meet his. "Are you implying that you are a better duelist-student than me, Jaden?" she asked in a joking manner. "Need I remind you that _you're_ the one in the red blazer."

"Hey, you said it yourself," Jaden argued cockily with a chuckle. "I belong in Obelisk Blue."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I wouldn't have if I knew you were gonna let it go to your head," she murmured—even though she agreed with him whole-heartedly.

"Well, you _did_ say it."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious."

"Just reminding you!"

Shaking her head, Alexis couldn't help but smile. Though he wasn't always the sharpest tool in the shed, that was one thing he was good at: making her laugh and smile.

"Well, I'd better go," she finally said, standing up. She checked her watch with a yawn. "I'm going to eat dinner, take a shower, and probably call it a day." Gathering her things—which consisted of her notebook, her packet and her deck, she threw some locks of her hair aside as she walked to the door. "Thanks."

"No problem. Don't forget to give me back my card tomorrow," Jaden reminded her with a smile. "Oh yeah! One more thing…"

Alexis halted, watching as he pulled a Kit-Kat bar from the bowl of chocolates. He tore it open and broke the two pieces apart, handing one to her as he put the other one in his mouth.

"Kit Kat bar."

She giggled as she bit into her piece. "Again with the obviousness," she remarked. It didn't take either of them long to finish. "What's it for anyway? Another good luck charm thing?"

He shook his head with a silly grin, licking his fingers.

"Nope. Chocolate just tastes better when it's shared."

* * *

_**A/N: **Okkkay, you can all put down the pitch forks now. See, see? I updated! n.n I hope you liked it. And I'm home now, so writing fanfiction is easier…and, the next one will mark the half-way point. W00t! Ciao for now!_


	15. Beautiful Beginnings

**Title: **Beautiful Beginnings  
**Author:** Amm (SoulSeeker)  
**Pairing:** Yuki Juudai/Tenjoin Asuka (**Dub names used**.)  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh! GX  
**Theme:** #15—perfect blue  
**Rating:** For Everyone (PG)  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own the characters of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. I am just playing 'Barbie' with them, cause god knows they're a lot more fun than real Barbies.  
**Summary:** The first day was always the hardest…

_Halfway thereee! Finally! (hearts)_

* * *

With a start, Jaden Yuki burst into the doors of Duel Academy at last. His first day, and things weren't going well at all.

He knew he was late, and his examiners weren't going to like that. It made for bad first impressions—especially since his examiners were directly responsible for determining which dorm he was going to be placed—or rather, "ranked"—into; it was anywhere from the red rejects, to the mellow yellows, to the perfect blues.

Obviously, he wanted to put on his best show today, and, as he always said, "get his game on."

He ran, wet from the pouring rain outside, checking on every door to see where his entrance examination duel was to take place. If he hadn't arrived late, he might've known. He cursed the inconvenience, looking for any sign of where the duels could be taking place. It was hopeless, however—the school was ridiculously huge.

Seeing a few strangers grouped together around one particular room, Jaden eagerly ran up to them. He noticed that they were wearing the blue Academy blazers…meaning he probably wanted to show them some respect, since he knew that they were the highest-ranked in the school. A smile played across his face; surely they would be able to help him.

"'Scuse me," he interrupted courteously. "Is this the dueling area where I'm supposed to get ranked?"

The group members looked amongst themselves for a moment, a bunch of them holding back laughter. Was this complete newbie actually talking to them?

"You must be…new," one of the teens remarked with a smirk. With a brush of his black, spiky hair, he folded his arms in an authoritarian manner. "If you want to get ranked, you'd better hurry outside. Dr. Crowler doesn't like tardy students."

"Outside? But, Chazz—mmpffhh!"

The guy was apparently the "leader" of the group, Jaden noticed, as he wrapped his hand across the other teen's mouth violently, as if to say "don't interrupt!" He couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in suspicion, looking towards the window.

"Outside? In that pouring, god-awful weather?" Jaden stared relentlessly at the onslaught of rain, ignoring the slight giggles he heard from everyone.

"You better believe it," the 'leader' replied with a deceptive smile. "Crowler doesn't want any weakling slackers at our school. If you can't take a little rain, you might as well just go back home to your mommy."

"Yeah—go home!"

"Go cry to your mommy!"

The cries were unanimous, and it didn't take long for Jaden to realize that he wasn't exactly welcome among these elites. Feeling uncomfortable, he could feel himself begin to sweat, although he was still cold from the chilling rain. It was all right though; after all, the first day was always the hardest, wasn't it? Trouble was to be expected.

"What are you waiting for? If you hurry, you might have a chance at being an Obelisk," their boss urged mockingly. Jaden just looked confused, as if it was all Greek to him.

"Obelisk?" he questioned, in typical newbie fashion.

He snorted disbelievingly. "Obelisk?" he repeated. "You know, like Obelisk Blue? The highest rank you can get here?" He pointed to his shirt—a poignant navy blue, and shook his head at the dumbfounded expression it received. Sighing, he only murmured, "Some people really _don't_ know anything."

That was enough for Jaden.

He promptly ran off, having had enough of the awkwardness, and he swore he could hear echoes of "run like the wind, slacker!" He didn't know who to believe, and no one else was around. The duel couldn't have possibly been outside. Obviously they were trying to pull a fast one on him…or were they? He didn't know.

Looking back to make sure he was out of their sight, he suddenly found himself breathing heavily. He didn't stop though, and eventually—it was inevitable, he was sure—he wasn't looking and bumped into someone. Hard. In fact, it was more like a complete collision, knowing both parties onto the floor. His heartbeat irregular now, Jaden got up and looked to the person—a girl, also wearing blue—and turned a tinge of red from embarrassment. Secretly, he wondered if she was like any of those other jerks. Were they her friends?

"Sorry," he murmured weakly, offering a hand.

Rubbing her head of long brown hair, the girl, clad in blue, surprisingly took the hand with a smile. "Thanks," she sighed in a slight giggle. "Don't worry about it." The girl brushed herself off, regaining her composure, and she looked at him with surprise. "Hey, aren't you ranked yet? They're going to start turning away applicants soon you know—you'd better hurry!"

Jaden snickered. "If I knew where it was, I'd totally be there," he muttered. "I tried asking a bunch of guys down the hall there, and they gave me wonky answers. I couldn't figure them out…"

After a moment's thought, the brunette only shook her head with a sigh. It happened every single year, without fail. "Let me guess; they were all wearing blue, with that high-and-mighty attitude, and a punk with spiky hair did all the talking while everyone else kissed up to him?"

Jaden looked stunned. She'd hit the nail right on the head…

"That's them in a nutshell," he agreed with a nod.

The girl just rolled her eyes with another sigh, looking quite unsurprised. "Don't listen to anything they say," she warned. "It's just Chazz Princeton and his cronies. They're always out to get the new kids and the Slifers—the red students. They're always messing around. Just don't pay any attention to 'em."

Her smile lit up the hall, and Jaden smiled too. "All right," he said, holding out his hand. "Mind helping me out then? At least for a little while? The name's Jaden Yuki."

There was a pause, and she laughed, nodding almost immediately. She was surprised that she'd forgotten to introduce herself. She took his hand and shook it firmly with a smile; she could get used to this new guy, she decided. "No problem, Jaden. I'll help you out." She winked, leading him to a room that was no more than a few doors down the hallway to the left.

She turned around, her smile a mile wide. "I'm Alexis, by the way," she grinned proudly. "Alexis Rhodes. And welcome…" The brunette opened the door to reveal the biggest dueling arena Jaden had ever seen, with the toughest-looking opponents to match it. It was intimidating, to say the least…but he couldn't wait to get started.

"…to Duel Academy."

* * *

_**A/N: **Whee, this was fun to write. Especially Chazz. He's a bastard, but he can be pretty funny. Annndd this makes #15, which means I'm finally half way done! Heheheh…these Kisses are taking me a lot longer than they used to. I'm really sad about that, but there's not a whole lot I can do. But my goal is to finish these guys by Christmas…sooo we'll see how I do with that. Hope you guys'll still around 'till then. _

_Ciao, and as always, thanks muchly for the reviews! (mwah)_


	16. The Rose and the Violet

**Title:** The Rose and the Violet  
**Author:** Amm (SoulSeeker)  
**Pairing:** Yuki Juudai/Tenjoin Asuka **(Dub names used.)**  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh! GX  
**Theme:** #19—red  
**Rating:** For Everyone (PG)  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own the characters of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. I am just playing 'Barbie' with them, cause god knows they're a lot more fun than real Barbies.  
**Summary:** Aren't you tried of being a Slifer yet?

* * *

Wandering around Duel Academy during the long weekends was always fun. Those weekends and holidays were the only times people like Jaden and Syrus didn't get pushed aside into the walls, from the sheer amount of people in the halls, going from class to class. Of course, there were still some people, like them, who opted to stay around, even without class to attend.

Alexis and Jaden walked through the halls, actually heading to meet Syrus and Bastion for a trip down to the shore. They passed many people on the way—some in groups, others alone, each with their own destination. Some talked loudly. Others whispered. It was the students' day that day; no classes, no homework. Freedom.

And as they walked, Alexis stretched, making herself comfortable. Looking around, she gave a giggle, and Jaden looked at her, slightly bewildered—almost as if he hadn't seen her laugh before.

"What's so funny?" the boy asked, in genuine curiosity.

It seemed Alexis didn't even notice herself that her laugh had been aloud. She caught herself however, and simply smiled at him. "Oh…no reason," she replied. "It's just kinda funny…" She looked around at the other groups of people walking by; not surprisingly, they were probably not the only ones going down for a visit to the beach. "Have you ever noticed how people in the Academy seem to wear their rank colors, even when they don't have class?"

Jaden didn't answer right away. He only observed and looked at others, but he saw her point. "Hey!" he grinned, with a slight laugh. "I guess you're right."

Alexis smiled. "You're wearing red. I'm in blue," she noted. "I saw Bastion earlier in a plain yellow T-shirt…"

Jaden nodded, still with a smile. "I guess you kind of get used t' seeing yourself in the same colors, y'know?" he pointed out, shrugging. A thought then came across his mind, and a chuckle escaped his lips. "Man, would it be weird to see someone like _you_ in red!"

The proud Obelisk Blue had to laugh. "Well, thanks Jaden! I'll take that as a compliment."

He grinned, and neither spoke for a while. But soon, Alexis's eyes turned to meet Jaden's and, lips curled into a smirk, she broke the silence: "You know, one day though, I wouldn't mind seeing you in blue, Jaden."

Blinking a couple times, the boy looked down at his attire, predominantly red, and looked up at her. "You think?" he replied. "I dunno! I've always thought I looked awesome in red. It's totally my color—makes me irresistible!" He tugged on his shirt lightly and let it fall back into position, with a goofy smug look on his face.

Alexis shook her head with a forced giggle. "Oh, Jaden—I was being serious," she told him. "If you put forth some effort—you know I really do think you duel at an Obelisk level. Aren't you tired of being a Slifer yet?"

Silence once again, as Jaden just shrugged.

"Not really," he admitted. "Why should I be?"

"Because you can do better," Alexis replied sternly. By then, she'd almost sounded frustrated. "You can, and you should know that by now."

"Pfft—Crowler doesn't think so."

"And since when have you ever believed anything Crowler said?"

This actually made him stop and think a moment. It wasn't like he'd ever let Crowler or anyone else affect the way he thought of himself. And it wasn't like he doubted that he'd ever rank up to Obelisk Blue. If he actually cared about his advancement trials and exams…

"Well," he finally blurted out. "It's not like I plan to stay a Slifer forever. I just…like it here for now. It's comfortable."

"Comfortable?" she repeated.

And he nodded.

"Yeah," he replied. "You know…no competition, no trying to be the 'best' of the best. Everyone's just dueling 'cause they love it…and occasionally to pass an exam or something. There's no pressure at all, and we'll move up whenever we feel like it. It'll be 'cause we want to, not just 'cause we can."

Alexis thought about what he said for a moment—for it was rare that Jaden actually said something well-thought out. It had seemed like it was something that was on his mind for a while, and it suddenly occurred to her that she probably wasn't the only one who'd asked him about when he was going to move up to another rank.

"Well…" she murmured, slightly flabbergasted. "I guess I see your point. I just thought you might actually want the respect you deserve, when you're so obviously better than how some treat you."

Jaden snickered. "Well—_you _respect me, don't you?" he asked, motioning to her.

"Of course."

He grinned, rolling his shoulders a bit into a shrug. "That's enough for me. You're the only violet I care about."

Alexis did a double-take. They could see the beach now, and she thought he saw Syrus and Bastion from the corner of her eye—but her focus remained on Jaden. "Violet?" she repeated.

"Yeah, you know—roses are red, violets are blue…"

She laughed, shaking her head. Secretly she wondered what it would be like to have Jaden's mentality for a day, even a week. That care-free, nonchalant, happy-go-lucky enthusiasm and optimism that seemed to reign over him constantly. It would make life so simple, she almost considered it. But she decided she liked it on him a lot better.

"What?" Jaden folded his arms at her laughter. "Roses are prettier than violets too, I hope you know. So there." He stuck his tongue out.

"Yes, you're very pretty, Jaden."

_And mature too,_ she wanted to add, but refrained herself as she stifled her laughter.

"Haha, very funny," Jaden replied, getting her point. "Let's just find Sy and Bastion already! They're probably waiting for us."

"They're right over there." Alexis pointed toward the sand where they were standing, which was ten times as bright as usual thanks to the sun glaring upon it. They looked like they'd been able to occupy themselves well enough, as she saw neither of them tapping his foot or checking his watch.

"Race you!" Jaden shouted, and suddenly darted off, leaving Alexis to eat sand.

"Hey, wait a minute!" She suddenly darted after him and soon caught up with him. And watching him ahead of her kicking up as much sand as possible, realized that, at heart, he truly was a Slifer. Not a Ra—not an Obelisk.

And she decided she wouldn't have it any other way.

* * *

_**A/N:**__ Wow! It's been way too long, and I sincerely apologize. I sort of involuntarily took a lonnng break from writing—but I'm back now, and hopefully for good. Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it. Hopefully it won't take me another few months to get the next one out to you. (smiles)_

* * *

( EDITED 7/15/07 ) 

**_TO POISONED KISSES:_**

_Okay, guess what. Since obviously you're checking back on my fanfiction for GOD KNOWS why--why not. I'll reply. _

_I didn't delete your first comment because I wanted to "change" the truth. I deleted it because it was rude, sarcastic, and wasted my time. I accept criticism of my work, and if you disagree with something I did (which is OBVIOUSLY the case), then that's fine. But you can criticize me WITHOUT sarcasm._

_Now, in your first original reply, you mentioned the other dorm members such as Chazz, Zane, as well as Aster and other transfer students, providing you extended my story into the third season._

_Well, surprisingly enough, that was NOT my intention. If you can take a moment and believe that I am NOT an idiot, then you can try to grasp the fact that perhaps this fic took place BEFORE he even got along with the Obelisk Blues. When Chazz did NOT like him, and Alexis's friends (I believe you mentioned Mindy and Jasemine) did not either. Very early in the story. And at that point, he did not even know who Zane was, so he does not come into play here._

_And another point I'd like to make is that by mentioning that Alexis was "the only Violet he cared about," it was MEANT to show that Jaden did not care how others TREATED him or THOUGHT of him, as long as Alexis, HIS FRIEND, still was a friend, since at the time, she was one of his only OBELISK BLUE friends. Perhaps you misunderstood, and I apologize if it was not clear. _

_Also, it truly was not a quote that was meant to get hung up on, considering that pretty much the main point of it was make readers wonder WHY exactly he was calling Alexis a violet in the first place._

**"You also made a  
mistake by indicating that JADEN cares about dorms or colors in the first  
place. And thus you've ignored a massive part of his character"**

_Perhaps I misunderstood you here, but I believe you accused me of making ALEXIS care about coat color-- NOT Jaden, as Jaden was the one saying that he did NOT care. You have me in circles here..._

**"By the way he also cares about Crowler, who is a Blue. Is the thought that  
he might possibly like people who wear that color and live in that dorm THAT  
alien to you? Or does she have to be the ONLY one that he can stand no matter  
WHAT? "**

_Woah woah, now when did "caring" become the equivilant for "standing" or "tolerating"? I never said he hated ANY Obelisk Blues. As I mentioned earlier, his quote was meant to show his disregard for the disrespect he recieved--NOT to show that she was the only one he could "stand" or whatever you have come up with here._

_It seems to me that this is a case of misunderstanding._

_I assure you that as an author, I have reasons for doing what I do. And if after reading my explanation, you still disagree with me, then so be it. Please then just do us both a favor and do not read any more fanfiction by me. Allow the other 61 people who have my fanfic favorited to enjoy it._

_Thank you._

_PS: It's easier for me to reply to you if you submit a logged-in review...so you know. I can defend myself? But that's all right._


	17. Accident

**Title:** Accident  
**Author:** Amm (SoulSeeker)  
**Pairing:** Yuki Juudai/Tenjoin Asuka (Dub names used.)  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh! GX  
**Theme:** #28—Wada Calcium CD3  
**Rating:** For Everyone (PG)  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own the characters of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. I am just playing 'Barbie' with them, cause god knows they're a lot more fun than real Barbies.  
**Summary:** You sure picked a fine time to be clumsy, Jaden

* * *

"I sure hope Sy feels better soon."

Jaden Yuki shook his head as he spoke. Leave it to his friend Syrus to get sick during the week of finals! Quite curious too, considering they had spent a majority of their time together, and Jaden was still healthy and clean as a whistle. At the very least, he supposed, it was a only cold, and nothing worse, like the flu.

"I think he'll be fine," Alexis assured him with a smile. "With some rest, of course. The medicine's just to speed up the process. If we ever find one..."

They looked at all various bottles that were stocked in the cabinet at the Duelist Academy Health Office in search of a cold medicine to deliver to their ailing friend—with the nurse's permission of course. They figured it was the least they could do. It was almost like looking through the shelves of a pharmacy; past the Wada Calcium CD3 and the other vitamin supplements, though, there weren't too many names to be recognized. Where was the Tylenol? Dayquil? Nyquil? Anything?

It sure would've help if that nurse would come back right about then. Where had she gone, anyway? Surely it did not take that long to rinse a couple of syringes and come back.

"Man, I don't know _what_ I'd do if I caught something nasty during finals," Alexis murmured to stir conversation. "Sure would put a damper on my performance."

"Yeah, Sy has got some luck, hm?" Jaden agreed with a hearty laugh. "Ah well. He'll be back to his old self in no time."

Alexis nodded. "Hopefully enough to do well on his tests."

"_Headaches, pain, and fatigue_," he recited suddenly, reading off a bottle. "Maybe this one? Sy said his head was hurting a little."

The girl took a pause in her search to glance at the bottle he was holding up and, disappointed, shook her head. "Nah, we want something with fever and congestion," she reminded him of some of their friend's symptoms. "As well as headaches, I guess, since you mentioned it."

Jaden sighed, putting the bottle back in its placed and resumed looking. "Well we're not going to find anything perfect," he retorted. "One problem solved is better than nothing."

"I know, but there's something better we can take. I just know it," she murmured.

And suddenly, Alexis had looked at him rather curiously. She had come upon the realization that she never remembered seeing him ill in all his days at the Duelist Academy; in fact, he was usually the one cheering everyone up when something bad got around. She couldn't resist asking.

"Have you ever been sick before, Jaden?"

Jaden looked back at her with the same curiosity. It seemed rather out-of-the-blue for her to ask, but then again, they _were_ in a nurse's office in search of medicine. He looked rather absent-minded, and finally replied with a shrug: "I remember having mono once."

Alexis looked flabbergasted. Her eyes opened widely and her mouth hung a little bit, just barely revealing her pearly white teeth. She almost dropped the bottle she was holding. "No way," she denied. "_You_ got the _kissing_ disease? From who?"

It was almost a demand, rather than a question. Jaden laughed; honestly it was so long ago he could barely remember anything about it. "Wouldn't you like to know!" he teased, grinning. "You're not jealous, are you, Lex?"

She shook her hed vehemently. "No, not a chance!"

"Oh don't worry about it. Maybe I'll get it from you one day. Or who knows, I might give it to you..." he murmured mysteriously.

Her face was now a shade of red, and she tried to hide it vainly by focusing once more on the medicine. She read through each one, and suddenly, Jaden spoke.

"I found one!" he exclaimed victoriously. "Fever, pain reliever. Runny nose."

Alexis took the bottle and looked at it, reading its ingredients and symptoms and taking special note of all the side effects. _Drowsiness, fatigue...normal_, she thought. And normal was good.

"This'll work," she smiled. "Now let's get out of here."

Jaden smiled, nodding, and took a step towards her to finally make their return to the Slifer dorms. Suddenly, however, he felt something underneath his shoe, on the ground. It was almost like a banana peel, only smaller, and before he knew it, he'd lost his balance. He tried to clutch onto something solid to keep from collapsing, but it was too late.

Alexis had seen what was happening and tried to catch him, however it only resulted in her toppling over as well—and before they knew it, they both found themselves on the ground. Alexis was face up, hands stretched behind her to the ground, just barely supporting her. She stared into the face of Jaden, who was on top of her, supporting himself vigorously with his own arms, trying to keep himself held up as to not fall on her and crush her.

They were inches apart. If the fall had been any harder, their heads would've probably bumped and their lips—

"What was _that_? Are you okay?"

"I don't know," Jaden stammered. "I tripped on something."

Both began to look around to find the source of Jaden's accident, but saw nothing on the ground. They breathed heavily.

"Are you two all right? Not...interrupting something, am I?"

The sudden voice made them both jerk, and Jaden finally crawled away from her, standing upright. He brushed himself off and then helped Alexis off the ground as well, and both were flustered. Not receiving a reply to the first question, the nurse, who had returned just in time to see the result of the little 'accident,' had decided to try her luck with another one.

"Did you guys find what you needed?"

Finally Alexis nodded, holding up a bottle. "This should be it, ma'am," she muttered. "We'll be on our way now."

Jaden nodded in agreement, and both shuffled their way out of the room, happy to be out of there as soon as physically possible. They received a weird stare from the nurse now, who was doomed with the task of reorganizing the bottles in the cabinet, which had been put back every which way.

"How embarassing!" Alexis exclaimed, once they were out of earshot.

"I'll say. I can't believe she had to come back at that very moment."

"You sure picked a fine time to be clumsy, Jaden."

He shook his head innocently with a frown. "I tripped on something!" he assured her. "It wasn't me, there was something on the ground..."

"But we looked," she reminded him. "And we didn't see anything."

"I know," Jaden replied. "I know, but..."

They continued to walk and both were in thought, contemplating the accident. Perhaps there was something they could've done to prevent it all. Hopefully they wouldn't have to make another trip to the nurse's office for a long while.

Alexis shook her head. Jaden was careless, but surely he couldn't trip on thin air. It was a physical impossibility. Perhaps there was something they missed. Something they didn't see, perhaps Jaden had kicked it out of sight when he tripped on it—whatever it was. And suddenly her eyes widened in surprise as she stopped, and Jaden walked ahead of her. He hadn't noticed, and didn't turn around until Alexis started to laugh.

"What? What is it?" Jaden asked, forcing a smile to appear as if he might've known what was going on.

Her laughter continued and she pointed to his feet.

"Jaden, you might want to tie your shoes."

* * *

_**A/N: **__Happy New Years! Yeah, I definitely did want to finish these guys by Christmas, but an unexpected writer's block came over me. That sucked. :P_

_Plus a bunch of fun IRL things, like final exams and moving and whee. Yeah. Fun stuff._

_Will be trying to post regularly again. Till then, I hope you enjoyed._


	18. Competition

**Title: **Competition  
**Author:** Amm (SoulSeeker)  
**Pairing:** Yuki Juudai/Tenjoin Asuka (Jaden/Alexis)  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh! GX  
**Theme:** #4—our distance and that person  
**Rating:** For Everyone (PG)  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own the characters of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. I am just playing 'Barbie' with them, cause god knows they're a lot more fun than real Barbies.  
**Summary:** She had them all under a spell.

* * *

My mum'd always asked me when I'd get myself a girlfriend.

Well, I thought I had plenty of them. And I told her so, too. I mean, who in the world_ didn't_ have friends who were girls, right? But of course, that wasn't what she meant. No, she had to complicate the whole thing for me. To this day, I'm still not sure what it means to have a 'girlfriend.' But everybody wanted one!

'All the cool kids are doing it,' someone might say.

But nah, I'm not a cool kid. I'm just plain ol' Jaden Yuki. And I don't want a girlfriend, no, sir.

I've seen what it does to people, this whole 'love' thing. I'm friends with Alexis after all, one of the most popular girls in the whole academy. I've kept watch over guys like Chazz who're always running around after her, like chickens with their heads cut off.

I haven't watched _too _closely—I mean, there's gotta be _some_ distance between us, after all—but I'm telling you, they go completely _ga-ga_. Really, show a man a girl they think is 'the one' and they go nuts! I want a clear head on my shoulders. I don't want to be like them, don't want any part of it.

And I'm not like them at all.

Speak of the devil, Alexis just walked into the classroom. I'm surprised I got here before she did! Why was I so early anyway?

"Jaden Yuki, on time?" Alexis sang teasingly. "My, my, hell really _has_ frozen over."

"Funny as always, Lex," I replied, making myself chuckle a little for her benefit.

"What brings you here so early?"

Just then, the hundred heads who were in the room turned towards the door, which had slammed with a bang. Crowler stood, watching everyone's reaction with an eagle's eye, and everyone fell silent. His lips curled into a twisted, evil smirk, and you could swear his big, ol' head grew by the minute, knowing he had that kind of power.

His voice boomed throughout the class, and you couldn't really hear anything else.

Alexis had just enough time to dash back to her seat, giving me a look that seemed to say, 'We'll continue this later.' And my eyes seemed to follow her. I didn't even notice it. It just kind of happened, like I was under some kind of spell or something. Was it this spell that got the others? The one that had all the others brainwashed?

What was the big deal about girlfriends and boyfriends anyway—the hugs and kisses? I mean, you get those even just as friends! Well... maybe not the kisses but...I get enough of those from my mom.

"Jaden Yuki!"

I jumped at the sound of my name. For the moment I actually forgot I was in class. It was Crowler, and he didn't look happy. He was asking me something I didn't know the answer to, as per usual. I wasn't really worried about it. He should've been used to it by now.

He repeated the question, as if I was going to magically know the answer the second time.

I didn't even process it—and that's when it happened. I suddenly realized something. It was like a—what were they called again? Epif—epiphe—epife—_epiphany._

Maybe I had become just like them. I was a brainwashed fool.

Not a single word Crowler said made it into my head, and it was all because I was thinking about Lex. Not how amazing she was, but how _everyone else thought so_. I griped and complained; I didn't want to be like them because _I wanted to be better than them._

They were competition—and boy did I have a lot of it. I wanted to win. Maybe I was one of _them_; one of the players.

And the prize?

Well, those hugs and kisses from a certain witch-girl who had pit us all against each other. The one who had us all under a spell. A spell so powerful that, even if you figure out you're on it, you don't even want to break it.

I suppose it's called love...

* * *

_**A/N: **Well, there we go! Finally, one from Jaden's POV. It was a little harder to write than I thought, actually, but I suppose it turned out nicely in the end. Hope you guys enjoyed._

_PS: Is anyone else having trouble logging onto Ff-net with the 503 error (or has had the problem before)...?_


	19. Blue Moon

**Title:** Blue Moon  
**Author:** Amm (SoulSeeker)  
**Pairing:** Yuki Juudai/Tenjoin Asuka (Dub names used.)  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh! GX  
**Theme:** #12—in a good mood  
**Rating:** For Everyone (PG)  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own the characters of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. I am just playing 'Barbie' with them, cause god knows they're a lot more fun than real Barbies.  
**Summary:** Punishment isn't so bad.

* * *

"Well, it could be worse," Alexis murmured, trying to console her friend. "He could've given you cafeteria duty."

Jaden nodded in agreement, with a childish laugh. "Yeah I suppose when you put it that way, I got off pretty easy," he replied.

Yes, it was no surprise to Alexis that Jaden had managed to get into trouble for something so simple. He had been unable to sleep the night before, and, noticing a full moon, decided to break curfew and take a closer look-see. He then thought perhaps a walk might tire him out so that he could sleep. He heard no one and figured no one would have to know, so he was certainly surprised to be seen—and punished.

Of course, breaking curfew for one night was no heinous crime, but if you were Jaden Yuki, and you were caught by Professor Crowler...the situation was a bit more severe.

"I appreciate you helping and all—you really don't have to though," Jaden told her with a grin. "It's no big deal really. Just helping out around the card shop. And besides, it's not like you did anything wrong."

"I hate to say it Jaden, but you didn't either, really," Alexis replied. "Crowler's kind of had it out for you, you know. What was _he_ doing out at the hour anyways? You weren't even doing anything—he could've easily forgotten the whole thing."

"Well, you know what they say. The full moon makes people do weird things!" he replied with laughter. Alexis rolled her eyes with a grin.

"You're lucky Ms. Dorothy's so nice," she told him.

"That's for sure."

"Here, let me give you a hand with that before you hurt yourself."

Jaden was in the process of putting a box full of card packs back onto the shelf; he was just a few inches too short though, so Alexis, being taller, put it on the shelf herself. They washed the windows, mopped the floors, and took care of the few customers that came by while Ms. Dorothy was gone. A Ra Yellow student had just finished buying a brand new pack of cards and walked out of the store.

"So, what's left?" Alexis asked.

He thought a moment. "Well, I think we just need to move these boxes into the storage room, and we're good!" he answered excitedly. "At least until Ms. Dorothy gets back, and we get to kiss up to her again."

"Ha, great! Let's do it."

It was just about then that Ms. Dorothy walked through the door, looking impressed at the cleanliness. She helped get the rest of the boxes back into the storage room, all the while telling Jaden that he was lucky to have a good friend, bearing his punishment with him. She tried her best, of course, to not make it seem like a punishment at all.

"Speaking of friends, where's the rest of the gang anyway, Lex?" Jaden asked.

"Oh, they're around," she replied in a chuckle. "They said they'd come by later after their sun tans—and after Chumley beats Syrus in a swimming race."

Jaden shook his head, laughing. "Figures..."

He supposed he couldn't blame them for having fun in the sun without him. The first day of summer was precious, after all.

"Ah well, the day's not wasted yet," Ms. Dorothy told him, noticing his slight disappointment. "You guys are done here; I'm just about to close up shop, so why don't you go join your friends? There's still a good couple hours until sunset!"

They had wide smiles on their face, thanking her as they walked out. They rushed, but alas, the beach was empty by the time they got there.

"Maybe it got too hot," Alexis suggested. "I guess they went back inside."

"It's perfect now, though!" Jaden noted, lifting his head up. A cool breeze blew over them as the sun lowered in the sky, taking its bright orange aura with it.

"It is nice, isn't it?" she agreed. She took a seat in the sand, brushing her hair back behind her shoulders, and she felt Jaden sit down next to her. "Guess we shouldn't stay too long, though."

"Yeah, but we can stay a little longer." He smiled, looking at the sky. There was a pause, and suddenly Jaden spoke. "The breeze was just like this, you know? When I saw that full moon a couple nights back."

"It must have been beautiful," Alexis replied.

"Yeah..." The boy seemed dazed, but he seemed to snap out of it when he looked over to her. "Hey...do you want to come see it with me next time? You know...if you're not too tired or whatever..."

Alexis's eyes widened, and her jaw dropped a little. "Break curfew with you?" she asked, surprised. "Being caught once wasn't enough?"

"Was just a thought..." he replied. "There's supposed to be a blue moon in a couple weeks, and I'd love to see it! It'd be cool to have someone to see it with, too. I mean, who'd of thought the moon could be blue?"

Alexis stared and soon had to work very hard to muffle her laughter. She did not hide it very well however, as this was followed by an inquiring look from Jaden. She shook her head. "Jaden...a blue moon" —a burst of laughter—"a blue moon just refers to a full moon that...haha...it doesn't mean the moon is actually—"

Suddenly she opened her eyes and stared at him, looking so innocent and clueless. She let out one last chuckle and shook her head.

"The moon isn't actually...what?" he asked, with a quirked eyebrow.

"Never mind, Jaden," she replied, waving her hand. "Never mind—I'll go with you."

"Really?" Excitement rang in his voice.

"Sure."

"Great! It's a date then!"

The Obelisk blue girl laughed again. "Jaden, do you even know what a date is?"

"Er—I dunno, I've just always wanted to say that..." He scratched his head a little.

Alexis pat him hard on the back, grinning, and ruffled his hair. She couldn't remember the last time she was in such a good mood. There was so much he had to learn. "Fine. It's a date..."

* * *

_**A/N:** Ah, I actually had this written up a couple of days ago...I just kept forgetting to upload it to ff-net. Hehe- sorry to make you wait! I'm trying, honest. :) Thanks for reading. Happy summer!_


	20. Passing on the Reward

**Title:** Passing on the Reward**  
Author:** Amm (SoulSeeker)**  
Pairing:** Yuki Juudai/Tenjoin Asuka **(Dub names used.)  
Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh! GX**  
Theme:** #13—excessive chain**  
Rating:** For Everyone (PG)**  
Disclaimer:** I don't own the characters of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. I am just playing 'Barbie' with them, cause god knows they're a lot more fun than real Barbies.**  
Summary:** Some things were best kept a secret.

* * *

A bright orange sun greeted the students of Duel Academy on a early, manic Monday morning. Normally, they would all be sound asleep; morning seldom existed in the teenagers' world. However that morning, the campus was abuzz with chatter and excitement.

It was this way every year when Industrial Illusions announced the release of brand new Duel Monsters' cards. Even Jaden Yuki was awake to obtain a brand new pack of cards for himself—"way before anyone else!" he had told himself. But when they arrived at Dorothy's card shop, they realized that Jaden would have a hard time believing what he had said.

"Wow." Alexis gawked, amazed at the amount of students.

"Well, it seems we weren't the only ones with the brilliant plan to wake up early," Syrus murmured with widened eyes. "I didn't even know this many people _came_ to Duel Academy!"

"It looks like…a really, really long chain," Jaden said in amazement, tracing the long line of people with his finger.

"Or a snake," Alexis added, imitating Jaden's motion. "Looks like you won't be the first after all, Jaden."

He scratched his head a little, sweating. "I guess not…"

Syrus sighed, holding his head. "Now what do we do? I don't want to wait out here for hours. It's way too hot!"

"But if we wait until later, there might not even be any left!" Jaden exclaimed in a disappointed whine.

Alexis shrugged. "Well, it is a Monday," she reminded them. "They've got to go to class eventually."

The three of them looked onto the crowd with uneasiness. Syrus shook his head, letting another sigh escape his lips. "They sure don't _look_ like they plan on going to class any time soon," he muttered.

"Oh, calm down, you hot-heads." Alexis suddenly came up between the two of them with a smile. "It's not like this is the only shipment that'll come in. We'll have plenty of chances to get some of those new cards."

"I guess you're right," Jaden replied meekly.

"I can't wait to see them!" Syrus exclaimed. "Remember, Chumley's been working as an artist for Industrial Illusions for a long time now, so some of these cards could have his artwork on it!"

"Hey, you're right!" Alexis replied. "That'll be great to see!"

"Think that picture he drew of you two kissing will make it onto any cards?" Sy asked, grinning.

"Syrus!" Alexis blushed profusely. But before she could protest any longer, Jaden spoke.

"Well, it'll be lucky if we get to see _any_ of the cards today." He stared towards the front of the snake-like line. Squinting the right way, he could just barely make out Chazz's black spiky hair, surrounded by his cronies. "It's too bad we can't use a card to magically switch places with Chazz, all the way up there."

Alexis looked and saw him as well, but seeing the sheer amount of people in between had made it seem utterly hopeless that they would even make it that far. "Well, I say we _magically_ find our way to class, before Crowler has a cow. We're going to be late if we wait here much longer!" She slowly began to turn around, looking back and forth between her two companions to see if they would follow suit.

"I guess you're right." Syrus frowned, but nodded firmly in an attempt to convince himself that they were doing the right thing. "Let's get going."

"Aw, c'mon, guys!" Jaden grabbed both of them by the shoulder. "It's not like we'll be the only ones late today. Just look at the number of students here! Let's just stick it out a little longer, huh? What do you say?"

Alexis brushed her dirty blonde hair aside, sighing in disappointment. "You can stay if you want, Jaden, but I'm going to go."

"Yeah, I'm going to go with her, Jay," Syrus added. "Don't stay too long, okay? You know you have issues with Crowler as it is. He's not going to be happy with you!"

Jaden rolled his eyes. "Please. That old geezer's never going to be happy with me, even if I did make it to his boring class on time. You guys go on ahead, I'll catch up with ya."

And so Jaden went ahead into the line, hoping that some of them might disappear for class, much like his friends. Alexis and Syrus made their way over to Crowler's classroom. They found themselves alone, however. Not even Crowler was there to greet them.

"Gee, you don't think Crowler was caught up in this whole 'new cards' business, too?" Syrus asked, his voice echoing.

Alexis shook her head. "No way. They probably just needed some help with the crowd control. I'm sure he'll be back soon. Let's just wait here."

Syrus nodded and they sat in silence for a few moments. A few bursts of conversation here and there, but otherwise they were both relatively patient. Alexis pulled out a book, and Syrus looked through his deck of cards, fantasizing about what kinds of cards he might get. It was then that they heard the door creak. Expecting Crowler, Alexis quickly put her book away, and Syrus put his cards back in his deck.

But it wasn't him.

"Miss Dorothy?" Alexis looked thoroughly stunned.

"Hey! What're you doing here?" Syrus smiled, pleasantly surprised.

"Hi there! My, it sure looks lonely in this classroom. Is it only you two?" Dorothy looked around; she looked like she was looking for someone, but if she was, she was sorely disappointed.

"Yeah, it's just us two," Syrus replied.

"Mmhmm. Jaden decided to stay behind to try to get that new pack of cards from your shop…we tried to convince him to come to class, and go back later, but…"

Alexis trailed off with a shrug.

"My, that's really too bad…" Dorothy frowned.

"Say, why aren't _you_ at your shop? Shouldn't you be there right now? There were a lot of people!" Syrus suddenly stood up, alarmed.

Alexis nodded, suddenly standing as well. "Yeah, that's right!"

Dorothy simply laughed. "Oh, no, no, don't worry about that. I've got Crowler and some of my Obelisk Blue students working the shop for me right now. You see…" She paused for a moment. "So many students get carried away every year, skipping class on the day these new cards are released, standing in the obnoxiously long line, and sometimes even fighting…"

"Yeah, that's true," Syrus nodded, remembering the crowd from earlier that morning.

"It was pretty rowdy up there," Alexis commented, and turned to Dorothy. "But isn't that all the more reason you should be up there right now?"

She shook her head with a wide grin. "Well, you see, the chancellor and I came up with this idea that all the students who actually went to class on time, and didn't get caught up in all the craziness...should get a reward!"

Syrus's and Alexis's eyes both widened, and they looked at each other. "A reward?" Syrus gasped.

"I _told_ Jaden he should've come with us," Alexis grinned, shaking his head.

"Well, he certainly should've listened to you," Dorothy replied. "You see, the reward we decided on is precisely what everyone is going so ga-ga over at the moment." She pulled out something from her pocket. "We decided that those students who kept their cool would receive a free pack of the new cards that everyone is fighting over!"

"Wow!"

"Amazing!"

They stared at the shiny new pack of cards they each received, and grinned widely. Dorothy smiled as well; she loved to see the students' face light up when she did this every year.

"Wouldn't students just find out, though, if you do it every year?" Alexis asked curiously.

"No, no…you see, we ask that the students not to mention it to anyone else, so that the tradition would be kept safe every year," Dorothy replied. "Er…and, naturally, this applies to you two as well. Some things are best kept a secret, you understand."

"Guess this means we can't tell Jaden," Syrus laughed.

"Yeah, too bad." Alexis looked down at her pack of cards, frowning. She sighed, feeling slightly guilty now. Jaden had wanted those cards more than she did! A lot more. So she had an idea…

It was just about then that Dorothy left, and some other kids started to show up. Crowler did too, but, there weren't quite enough students to hold a lecture, so he just gave boring, tedious busy-work.

"Hey! You're back!" Syrus suddenly chimed up. Alexis looked up as well.

"Yo!" He had the same goofy smile on his face as always, Alexis noted.

"Did you get some cards?" she asked. Looking at his empty hands, though, Alexis could already guess the answer.

"Not a one," Jaden replied. "They ran out before I even made it in. Go figure!" He forced a chuckle, scratching his head; he knew he should've gone with his friends, but he had to try to get some of those cards!

"Oh, well!" Syrus shrugged, though the smile on his face still showed. He received a weird look from Jaden. Alexis shook her head; she supposed he wasn't the best actor in the world, nor was Jaden the quickest at noticing things…

"Hey, Jaden, what's that?" She pointed to his desk, and he turned around, somewhat obediently.

"Hm? Oh, wow!" Jaden's eyes widened—it was a brand new pack of cards! The very new ones that he'd missed out on getting that morning, conveniently left for him. "Where did these come from? What a miracle!"

Alexis laughed. It was like she could finally understand the satisfaction that came from what Dorothy did every year. Seeing his face light up was certainly a sight to behold…and it was well worth it.

"Well, it seems you got your cards after all." She smiled, giving him a firm pat on the back.

"Yeah! I wonder who left 'em though…" Jaden rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Yeah, I wonder..." Syrus smirked, looking over to Alexis. "Gee, do _you_ have any idea, Lex?"

Their eyes wandered over to her expectantly, and lingered. Her eyes widened, as she held her hands up in surrender. "Don't look at me! Why, I have no idea who your little secret admirer is. Maybe Santa got confused and came early. I don't know."

"Oh, really?" Syrus replied with a wink.

_Darn it. He's going to blow my cover!_

"Really!"

"_Really?_"

"Yes! Really!"

Alexis and Syrus both laughed, and it made Jaden look at both of them with suspicious eyes.

"Are you guys…hiding something?"

"No!"

Both voices chimed out at once. Jaden shook his head, deciding that his friends were strange sometimes—and Alexis realized perhaps she wasn't the best actress in the world either. And luckily for her, Jaden wouldn't notice that.

* * *

_**A/N:**__ Wow, I can't believe I made it to number 20! I hope you guys have been having a great summer. I don't really have much of the inspiration I used to, to update every week like I used to so long ago, but I'm glad some of you still read, and I hope you guys stick with me for 10 more stories._

_Thanks for your support!_


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